Nancy Hanks (NEA)

Nancy Hanks (NEA)
The Old Post Office, Washington, D.C. Now known as the Nancy Hanks Center

Nancy Hanks (1927–1983) was the second chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). She was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon and served from 1969 to 1977, continuing her service under President Gerald R. Ford. During this period, Hanks was active in the fight to save the historic Old Post Office building in Washington, D.C. from demolition. In 1983, it was officially renamed the Nancy Hanks Center, in her honor, and today houses the offices of the NEA, among others.[1]

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Early life

Nancy Hanks was born in Miami Beach, Florida on December 31, 1927. She was a distant cousin of Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln, the mother of President Abraham Lincoln. She moved to Montclair, New Jersey, while she was in high school.

Hanks attended Duke University where she majored in political science and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.[2]

Career

Hanks was the first woman to serve as the Chairman of the NEA and her political skills enabled her to increase NEA’s funding from US$8 million to US$114 million over her eight-year tenure. An act of the United States Congress honored Hanks by designating the newly renovated Old Post Office in Washington, D.C. The Nancy Hanks Center, in recognition of her enduring contributions to the arts.

The American Association of Museums established an award in her honor. The award recognizes a specific achievement that has benefited either the honoree’s home institution or the museum field in general. The cited achievement may be in any area of a museum’s operation: administration, exhibitions, education, public relations, registration, collections management, or development. Alternatively, the accomplishment may benefit the museum field generally (for instance, a development plan, membership plan, exhibition design, or collection policy that can serve as a model for other museums). Nominees for this award must have less than ten years in the museum field.

In 1983, Nancy Hanks died of cancer at the age of 55.

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