CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Humanities Council Board of Directors will hold its summer board meeting at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at Shepherd University on Friday, July 22, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Founded in 1974, the West Virginia Humanities Council is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and serves West Virginia through grants and direct programs in the humanities. In 2010, the Humanities Council awarded 75 grants in 20 West Virginia counties and offered 201 programs in 41 counties.

In Jefferson County, Humanities Council funds support the Contemporary American Theater Festival, the Historic Shepherdstown Museum, the American Conservation Film Festival, Shepherd University’s writer-in-residence program and the Jefferson County Black History Preservation Society. Additionally, the council supported a City of Charles Town exhibit featuring works related to abolitionist John Brown by 19th-century artist David Hunter Strother (Porte Crayon).

The council’s recently established Sesquicentennial Speakers Bureau includes Mark Snell, director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd University.

The Humanities Council is governed by its board of directors, whose 24 members are drawn from all parts of West Virginia. Board members Raymond W. Smock, director of Shepherd University’s Robert C. Byrd Center, and Tia McMillan of Martinsburg will attend the summer meeting, which is open to the public.

The Humanities Council board of directors meets three times a year at locations across the state. For more information, visit the Humanities Council’s website at www.wvhumanities.org or call 304-346-8500.