Explore the Mass Humanities funded projects awarded from 2000 to the present. Browse by grant type, city, region or keyword. Subscribe and receive news when grants are awarded. Interact with a state map of grants awarded!
African American Sailors on CONSTITUTION in 1812
Exhibition planning grant to research the lives of the estimated 10-15% of CONSTITUTION'S crew who were free African Americans.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Anne G. Rand
awarded on: 2005-04-21
amount: $5,000
Identity Crisis
A one-hour documentary for Public Television that explores and life and ideas of Erik H. Erikson - the psychoanalyst who developed the concept of identity and, most famously, the identity crisis.
The Bankside Humanities Series
Free public lecture/demonstrations on the historical and cultural aspects of the Renaissance that helped shape the drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
Lenox, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Mel Cobb
awarded on: 2005-04-21
amount: $4,500
If They Close the Door on You, Go in the Window
An exhibit, symposium on the African American heritage of the Berkshires and a celebration of the life of Elizabeth Freeman.
Sheffield, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Joanne Hurlbut
awarded on: 2005-03-17
amount: $5,000
New England Native American Exhibit
The planning phase for a new Native American exhibition focusing on and in collaboration with many New England tribes.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Leslie Swartz
awarded on: 2005-03-17
amount: $5,000
Falmouth As a Summer Resort Research Inventory Grant
A study of the families of wealth and prestige who came to Falmouth in the 1880-1920's and who left behind graceful mansions and their family names on the streets, ponds and landmarks.
Falmouth, MA, Barnstable County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Mary Sicchio
awarded on: 2004-12-30
amount: $1,000
Research Inventory Grant: Brookline Historical Society
Comprehensive inventory of the Devotion House, the headquarters of the Brookline Historical Society.
Brookline, MA, Norfolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Jean Stringham
awarded on: 2004-12-30
amount: $1,000
Research Inventory Grant - Brockton Shoe Museum
Inventory of the Brockton Shoe Museum collection.
Brockton, MA, Plymouth County (Southeast)
project director: John W. Learnard
awarded on: 2004-12-30
amount: $1,000
Scholar in Residence: Stephen Phillips Trust House
A study of the collections related to the second generation of the Phillips family culminating in a public lecture: From Sail to Rail: The Phillips Family After Salem's Golden Age of Sail and a written body of research material.
Salem, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Laurie Austin
awarded on: 2004-12-30
amount: $1,250
Scholar in Residence: Lexington Historical Society
Reckoning with the Parkers: Three Generations of Artisan Trade in Colonial and Early Republic Lexington.
Lexington, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Richard Kollen
awarded on: 2004-12-30
amount: $2,500
The Trial of Anthony Burns - Social Justice Theater at Orchard House
Support for transportation costs for 10 performances of the interactive historical drama, The Trial of Anthony Burns, in collaboration with the Revere Public Schools. Funds will offset costs so that 500 students in grades 9-12 can visit Orchard House and experience this program.
Concord, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Nancy Gahagan
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $2,700
The Banjo Project
Production grant as partial funding for a two-hour national public television documentary about the social history of the banjo. MFH funds will be used for the Massachusetts-based topics in the program.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Marc Fields
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $5,000
Telling Women's Lives
Pre-production grant for a series of ten films about women in the American past.
Melrose, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Laurie Kahn
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $10,000
Spirit of Providence
Funds to support the pre-production of Spirit of Providence, a documentary television program about the Sisters of Providence, a small order of Catholic Sisters from Holyoke, MA, who have made a great impact in establishing non-profit healthcare institutions and social services in their communities.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Elizabeth Wilda
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $10,000
Enslaved in the Americas/African American Festival
Humanities portion of the 8th annual African American Festival in Worcester, MA, including an exhibition at the Worcester Public Library, lectures and a panel discussion.
Worcester, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Gloria Hall
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $5,000
Our Bondage/Our Freedom: Frederick Douglass & Hermann Melville - Exhibition
Exhibition using the 150th anniversary of Frederick Douglass' My Bondage and My Freedom and Melville's Benito Cereno as a starting point for exploring concerns such as the reach and limits of democracy, the nature of freedom, the role of race in the America and the place of the U.S. in the world.
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County (Southeast)
project director: Candace L. Heald
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $5,000
The Playwright of Peaked Hill Bars
Exhibit on Eugene O'Neill in Provincetown.
Provincetown, MA, Barnstable County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Jeffrey Morris
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $5,000
Cai Guo-Qiang: Inopportune Lecture Series
Lecture and discussion series investigating the political and artistic issues raised by MASS MoCA's exhibition Cai Guo-Qiang: Inopportune.
North Adams, MA, Berkshire County (Berkshire)
project director: Laura S. Heon
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $5,000
SCENES FROM A PARISH
Funds for the research, production and editing of a documentary film examining social change at Saint Patrick's, a working-class Catholic parish in Lawrence, MA experiencing dramatic changes as immigrants from Latin America and Asia move to the neighborhood.
Watertown, MA, Middlesex County (Greater Boston)
project director: James Rutenbeck
awarded on: 2004-12-10
amount: $10,000
Understanding Islam at Hingham
Reading and discussion program about Islam (formerly a council conducted program).
Hingham, MA, Plymouth County (Southeast)
project director: Kathleen Leahy
awarded on: 2004-12-06
amount: $500
The Mystery Novel as a Reflection of its Times
Reading and book discussion group examining mystery novels.
Barnstable, MA, Barnstable County (Cape & Islands)
project director: Lucy Loomis
awarded on: 2004-11-30
amount: $1,000
Planning Grant: Hibernian Hall and Roxbury in the 20th Century
Funds to develop a plan for exhibits and related activities, as well as a strategy for obtaining funding for the Roxbury Center for the Arts at Hibernian Hall - a product of the overall rehabilitation of Hibernian Hall in Dudley Square, which has served as a center for community culture in Roxbury and Greater Boston.
Roxbury, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Candelaria Silva
awarded on: 2004-09-17
amount: $5,000
Maritime Trade between Salem, Massachusetts and India (1788-1845)
Development of a social studies curriculum material to present the flourishing trade that Massachusetts ports had with different ports of India for public schools.
Sharon, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Vanita Shastri
awarded on: 2004-09-17
amount: $5,000
Jews and the Culture of the Tango
Two-part symposium open to the public on Jews and the Culture of the Tango, focusing on the tango as a rich repository of the worldview and social situation of Yiddish-speaking Jews in the first half of the 20th century, both in Argentina and Eastern Europe.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County (Greater Boston)
project director: Thomas Glick
awarded on: 2004-09-17
amount: $1,695
William Skinner and Sons Manufacturing Co. Interpretive Exhibit
Exhibit Production Grant to build an interpretive and interactive exhibit on the William Skimmer and Sons Manufacturing Company and their part in the US silk industry, 1850-1962.
Holyoke, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Laurie Risler
awarded on: 2004-09-17
amount: $3,700
"Vincie N." Interpretive Exhibit
Development of an interpretive exhibit that will give insight into the culture of the people whose livelihood depended upon the Vincie N., a commercial fishing boat built in 1936 and fished by the same Gloucester family for over 50 years.
Gloucester, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Harriet Webster
awarded on: 2004-09-17
amount: $5,000
History of Social Service in Lawrence, Massachusetts
Exhibit of artifacts and oral histories telling the story of the emergence of social service policy and delivery in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Lawrence, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Kay B. Frishman
awarded on: 2004-09-17
amount: $3,700
Understanding Islam - Jones Library
Reading and discussion series about Islam.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Beth Girshman
awarded on: 2004-06-22
amount: $500
The Lure of the West: Films and Literature
A reading and discussion series and film/discussion series to accompany an exhibit of American West artifacts.
Lexington, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Alice Promisel
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $3,500
The Villages of Montague: History and Memory in a New England Town
A videotaped oral history project about the five villages of Montague, produced in honor of Montague's 250th anniversary. The programs will air on a local access television station in late 2004.
Turners Falls, MA, Franklin County (CT Valley)
project director: Jeffrey Singleton
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $3,480
Monkey Dance Distribution Grant
The distribution grant will cover the production of a high school teacher's guide to accompany the documentary, design and printing of a poster to promote local screenings, and film festival entry costs.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Julie Mallozzi
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $4,980
Discover Roxbury's Art and History
A series of five "moving lecture" bus tours highlighting Roxbury's history, art and culture, led by experts in their fields.
Lexington, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Marcia Butman
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $4,000
Concord River Greenway History
An oral history project that will utilize interviews with residents of neighborhoods that abut the Concord River in Lowell. The end products will be a lengthy oral history document, a Concord River Greenway brochure, and historical signage.
Lowell, MA, Middlesex County (Northeast)
project director: Kristin McCauley
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $3,600
Website Design
The designing of a website for the Royall House, the only home in New England with preserved slave quarters.
Medford, MA, Middlesex County (Metrowest Boston)
project director: Fred Schlicher
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $1,680
A Place Called Paradise: Culture & Community in Northampton, MA 1654-2004
A UMass-published anthology containing the articles upon which the lectures for Historic Northampton's lecture series commemorating the 350th anniversary year of the city of Northampton were based.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County (CT Valley)
project director: Kerry Buckley
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $5,000
The Political Dr. Seuss
A 90-minute documentary film on the little known political side of Theodor Seuss Geisal, a Springfield native.
New York, NY, New York County
project director: Ron Lamothe
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $5,000
Plastic: Credit Cards and the Culture of Debt
A documentary investigating the culture of debt in America.
Walpole, MA, Norfolk County (Southeast)
project director: Tim Wright
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $5,000
Witch House Family Program Series
A series of educational public programs to enhance the Witch House's role as a center for community involvement and local history. The Witch House is the only historic building in Salem with direct ties to the witchcraft trials of 1692.
Salem, MA, Essex County (Northeast)
project director: Elizabeth Seater
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $3,400
Yours for Humanity--Abby, A One-Act Play
A one-woman play about Abby Kelley Foster.
Shrewsbury, MA, Worcester County (Central)
project director: Linda B. Rosenlund
awarded on: 2004-06-11
amount: $5,000
The American Short Story
A library reading and discussion series.
Wilbraham, MA, Hampden County (CT Valley)
project director: Ardie McEathron
awarded on: 2004-05-18
amount: $150