Last week, the National Endowment for the Humanities announced $28.1 million in grants for 204 humanities projects across the country. One of these grants was awarded to the National Comedy Center’s Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.

On Jan 10, it was announced that the museum would be awarded $400,000 for its three-year archival project titled “Discovering Lucy and Desi: Interpretive Content on the First Couple of Comedy.”

The grant will allow the National Comedy Center and museum to move forward in its project that will lead to the production of four interactive touchscreen kiosks for the museum dedicated to entertainers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Gary Hahn, vice president of marketing and communications for the National Comedy Center, said Laura LaPlaca, director of archives for the National Comedy Center and the Lucy Desi Museum, was the leader of the team that put together the proposal for the NEH grant.

“The National Comedy Center’s archive team prepared a rigorous application for the National Endowment for the Humanities’ highly-competitive program and presented a compelling case about the significance of Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and the value of their stories being shared widely,” Hahn said. “This application underwent review by subject area experts who determined that our project was well-planned and of historical and cultural importance, and will make a substantial contribution to the way that our visitors experience and engage with the archives at the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.”

The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum is operated by the National Comedy Center.

Hahn said the Comedy Center was proud to be included in the list of grant recipients, which also includes The Met, the Smithsonian, Harvard, University of California Los Angeles, Yale and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The archival project — featuring bilingual content — enables over 3,000 rarely-seen archival documents, photos, and artifacts to be fully accessible by kindergarten through 12 grade and college students, researchers, artists, and the public for the first time via state-of-the-art, interactive portals and displays.

By accessing these archives, visitors to the museum will gain new insight into Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and enable them to explore topics that Hahn said are still relevant today, including the groundbreaking television production techniques to Desi Arnaz’s heritage and entrepreneurial achievements and Lucille Ball’s leadership role as the first woman to lead a major Hollywood studio.

“Outside scholars and subject matter experts will complement our in-house team in providing new insights and perspectives on the incredible stories that are brought to life by showcasing these archives,” Hahn said. “Our primary goal here is to expand the stories we tell within the museum about these two legendary entertainment pioneers and ensure that our exhibits continue to be relevant and meaningful to new generations of visitors. This project will enhance our current Lucy Desi Museum’s exhibits, including exact re-creations of studio sets from ‘I Love Lucy,’ screen-used costumes and props, Emmy Awards, scripts, and other one-of-a-kind artifacts.”

Additionally, Hahn called Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz pioneering artists, leaders and icons.

“By making thousands of rarely-seen archival items accessible to the public, we aim to foster a new and deeper understanding of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s extraordinary legacies across disciplines including performance studies, cultural history, gender and feminist studies, Hispanic studies, media and technology, comedy writing and performance, the entertainment business, and American history,” Hahn said.

The funds from the NEH grant will be used specifically for the archival project, which includes research, preservation, development, design, and consultation between the Comedy Center’s team and leading experts in the field of cultural history. The project will be led by the museum’s creative and archival team, but also include collaboration with leading scholars and subject matter experts to provide new insights and broader context to the stories showcased within the museum.

Hahn said the project begins this summer and will continue for three years, with different parts debuting throughout those three years. He also said that the project helps to continue the mission of the National Comedy Center and Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.