Given the academic specialization endemic today in humanities disciplines, some of the most important work of humanities centers has become promoting education about the humanities in general. After charting the rise of humanities centers in the US, three characteristics of centers that enable their advancement of larger concerns of the humanities as a whole are discussed: location, flexibility, and broadened perspective. Independence from departmental demands and responsibilities allows humanities centers to reach diverse public audiences, to explore new paradigms and alternative structures for knowledge, and to overcome the intellectual divisions created by organizational structures of the contemporary university.