Past Grants Awarded

Newly collected stories of historically vulnerable communities of Worcester, resulting in a) an expanded archive and b) public programs on the experiences of Latino, LGBTQ+, Black residents and those who intersect identities. In partnership with Latino History Project of Worcester, LGBTQ+ Worcester FOR THE RECORD, and Worcester Black History Project, guided by Humanities Advisor Stephanie Yuhl.

An interactive walking tour and exhibit of the Puerto Rican/Latinx narrative in the City of Holyoke and in Massachusetts. Mass Humanities funding will support the design, execution of 9 walking tours during February- October 202 and a facilitated reception to celebrate, expand and capture the Puerto Rican/Latinx stories.

Three online virtual bilingual tours of Puerto Rican- and Latinx- majority neighborhoods in Holyoke. The tours will be created under the guidance of the Holyoke History Room and will combine contemporary history (audio/video/family photographs) gathered from current local residents with historical images and text describing these neighborhoods in earlier eras.

Documents the Cape Verdean community of Dartmouth. Mass Humanities funding will support the payment of oral history interviewees and interviewers, the humanities advisor, and an immigration researcher.

Freedom in Season, a new play based on Larry Spotted Crow Mann’s 3rd great grandfather Samuel Vickers, Union Army Civil War veteran. Living Presence of Our History Pt. VI: A Conversation on Continued Oppression and Erasure Through Public Plaques, Memorials, and Statuary will be a panel of scholars and local Indigenous people.

Mass Humanities funding will support the following major activities: Story collection by Museum staff; Identification and refinement of stories’ emerging themes; Digital collection, storage and archiving of documents, photographs and audio and video recordings; Collaboration between curatorial and education staff to bring previously underrepresented audiences to the Museum and its website via programs and workshops.

The expansion of the permanent exhibit at the Visitor Center to reflect the stories of post-industrial Lawrence, including oral histories of Latinx people who arrived in vast numbers after WWII, beginning with the creation of a portable exhibit to use in the LHSP and beyond. Mass Humanities funding will support research/content development, design/fabrication/installation, and honoraria for content developers.

Mass Humanities funding will support group building and preparation of young adults in First Generation, the gathering of their and their family’s stories, development of stories into presentations/performances for the public, accompanied by facilitated dialogues, and the creation of a small book archiving past and present FG stories.

A self-guided audio walking tour that explores the nuanced local history of Peskeompskut, an important Native American settlement sieged during King Phillips War. Through their smart phone, listeners will connect to personal, historic and interpretive narratives by Indigenous and local history partners housed on a story app site. (STQRY) Funding will support the writing and recording of these narratives, costs associated with the app, and advertising.

Mass Humanities funding will support research, design, video production, exhibit panels and event costs. The materials that will be produced will be used for special events in the community, walking tours, websites and community forums. There will be personal accounts of hardships, struggles and accomplishments by community members.

Mass Humanities funding will support the creation of a shooting script, treatment, trailer, and a ten-minute work sample that is necessary to raise funding for the production and post-production of the film.

New archival research on slavery in Medford and the people enslaved by the Royall family, in order to relaunch website interpretation through a new virtual exhibit, tour revisions, and community conversations about the local history of slavery and its legacies today. Mass Humanities funding will support scholarly research, writing exhibit text, and exhibit design.

An interactive exhibit about Massachusetts-based African American doll artists Marie Turner and Grace Turner, their collection of handmade "peddler dolls," and the multi-volume guide to same which they authored. Mass Humanities funding will support research, exhibit materials, document printing, speaker and presentation event reception costs.

Mass Humanities funding will support the final steps of oral history digitization - transcriptions and metadata entry and permanent cataloguing at UMASS. The newly digitized oral histories will be presented on a new section of the BCHS website. The BCHS will also present three facilitated discussions of underrepresented local histories throughout the spring of 2022.

Interpretive exhibits and programming for an African American heritage site and cultural center at the Clinton A.M.E. Zion Church in Great Barrington. Mass Humanities funding will be used to formulate specific components that address the themes and goals outlined in CCR’s interpretive plan. Work will entail research and the development of program content, exhibit narratives, schematic-level designs, graphics, and media treatments.

Mass Humanities funding will support collection and sharing of stories of veterans past and present to reflect on the profound changes in how America has thought of and cared for people with disabilities. Stories will be shaped into free grades 8-12 curriculum and shared via teacher workshops and public webinars.

Mass Humanities funding will support four public programs uncovering, documenting, and sharing the history of Black and African American people in Cambridge. Mass Humanities funding will support research, planning, and promotion of the free programs as well as honoraria for the speakers.

Mass Humanities funding will support a humanities advisor, research assistant and website designer for the podcast site of The Slave is Gone: The Show That Talks Back to Apple TV’s Dickinson. This will feature episodes and capsule stories and images collected and written by the researcher and advisor of lesser-known locals of Native, African-descent, white Yankee and immigrant background, some gender non-conformists, and largely known to Amherst’s most famous daughter.

An oral history project focusing on four Jewish immigrant communities in Massachusetts, which will result in the digital archiving of interviews and an online exhibit for all to access. Mass Humanities funding will support recording equipment, transcription services, stipends and travel reimbursements for interviewers, honoraria, community stakeholder meetings, and a launch reception.

Screenings, including Q & A and artist workshops, to raise awareness about street art and public art. The goal is to encourage youth and graffiti enthusiasts to paint on legal graffiti walls, to expand possibilities for street artists and motivate them towards public art contributions and a positive difference.

Mass Humanities funding will support research and pre-production of a verité documentary film depicting the unique, tight-knit, majority-Latinx Chelsea community battling COVID-19 and its aftermath, as told through the voices of its residents.

Mass Humanities funding will support a humanities scholar to research and write a new interpretive plan for the Museum highlighting the lives of indigenous, enslaved, indentured, and day laborers on the site. It will also fund the free public launch celebration of this reinterpretation initiative including honoraria for speakers and consultants.

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with New Democracy Coalition of MA Inc

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Worcester Roots

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with the Marion Art Center, Inc.

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Community Action Agency of Somerville

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with New Bedford Historical Society, Inc.

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Swampscott Public Library

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Old Parish Preservation Volunteers, Inc.

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with City of Newton Cultural Development Department

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Somerville Museum

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Historical Society of Old Newbury

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Freedom House, Inc.

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Plainfield Reads

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with The Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, Inc. DBA The Loring Greenough House

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Sharon Historical Society

A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Forbes House Museum

Supporting three online events: Honoring Edwin Noble the Winchester veteran who fought to save Poland from Russia w/Ellen Knight Abraham Lincoln & Leadership in Turbulent Times with Harvard professor & historian Nancy Koehn ‘Lest we forget’. Remembering the Holocaust with Winchester resident Jerry Blaine.

Supporting three online events: Author & Illustrator Talk: Twenty-One Steps - Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Solider The Cottingley Fairies: Doyle, Spiritualism, and a Hoax Plants Go to War

Supporting three online events: Lunch & Learn: 400 Years Ago - A Look Back at Spring 1621 Lunch & Learn: 400 Years Ago - A Look Back at Fall 1621 Lunch & Learn: 400 Years Ago - A Look Back at Winter 1621