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Explore the Mass Humanities funded projects awarded from 2000 to the present. Browse by grant type, city, region or keyword. Subscribe to our newsletter and receive news when grants are awarded.
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.
Pittsfield, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-09-17
amount: $8,750
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.
Turners Falls, , MA County
project director:
awarded on: 2021-09-17
amount: $20,000
The Untold Story: Indigenous history and presence from pre-colonization to todayOhketeau Cultural Centermore
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 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.
Boston, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-09-17
amount: $11,919
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.
Boston, MA
project director: Stacie Madden
awarded on: 2021-09-17
amount: $20,000
Three Generations of Reinterpretation at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington MuseumPorter-Phelps-Huntington Foundation, Inc.more
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.
Hadleyh, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-09-17
amount: $19,030
Expanding Worcester Stories - Voices of the VulnerableWorcester Historical Museummore
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.
Interpretive Exhibit Design for a new African American Cultural Heritage Center in the Hometown of W.E.B. Du BoisClinton Church Restoration, Inc.more
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.
Great Barrington, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-09-17
amount: $20,000
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.
The Slave Is Gone: The Show That Talks Back to Apple TV’s DickinsonThe Jones Library, Inc.more
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.
The Juneteenth Public Reading and Racial Reconciliation GatheringNew Democracy Coalition of MA Incmore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with New Democracy Coalition of MA Inc
Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Bicentennial Park, MarionMarion Art Center, Inc.more
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 Worcester Roots
Reading Frederick Douglass Together via zoomCommunity Action Agency of Somervillemore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Community Action Agency of Somerville
Somerville, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-06-15
amount: $350
Freedom Talks: Understanding Racism, Frederick Douglass and you in the 21st Century!Freedom House, Inc.more
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Freedom House, Inc.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together as the Struggle ContinuesNew Bedford Historical Society, Inc.more
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with New Bedford Historical Society, Inc.
New Bedford, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-06-07
amount: $1,150
Reading Frederick Douglass Together in NewtonCity of Newton Cultural Development Departmentmore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with City of Newton Cultural Development Department
Newton Centre, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-06-07
amount: $1,250
Reading Frederick Douglass Together on The Lawn at Loring Greenough HouseThe Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, Inc. DBA The Loring Greenough Housemore
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
Jamaica Plain, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-06-07
amount: $2,000
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Swampscott Public Library
Plainfield Reads Frederick Douglass and Founding Documents, 2021Plainfield Readsmore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Plainfield Reads
Reading Frederick Douglass Together (with the Somerville Museum)Somerville Museummore
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 Old Parish Preservation Volunteers, Inc.
Norwood, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-06-07
amount: $880
Reading Frederick Douglass Together at the Forbes House MuseumForbes House Museummore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Forbes House Museum
Reading Frederick Douglass Together in Newburyport, MAHistorical Society of Old Newburymore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Historical Society of Old Newbury
Newburyport, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-06-07
amount: $450
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Sharon Historical Society
Reading Frederick Douglass Together and Committing Ourselves to Racial JusticeSouth Congregational Churchmore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with South Congregational Church
Online Programs by the Loring Greenough HouseThe Jamaica Plain Tuesday Club, Inc. DBA The Loring Greenough Housemore
Supporting three online events: The Slavery and Servitude Roundtable An Evening with a Garden in the Woods Loring Greenough Interpretation Fellows Presentation
Jamaica Plain, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-05-17
amount: $1,500
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with The Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation For Artists In Need
Oak Bluffs, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-05-17
amount: $2,000
Online programs by Winchester Historical SocietyWinchester Historical Societymore
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: Remember Me to Lebanon: The Story of Early Arab American Immigrants to Boston Boston's Haymarket and the Market District Otis House: Witness to History
Third Annual Reading Frederick Douglass FalmouthCape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center, Incmore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center, Inc
East Falmouth, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-05-17
amount: $2,000
Supporting one online event: Living with the Atomic Bomb: 1945-1965
Supporting three online events: The Global Future of Devens The Unseen Foe: Camp Devens in the 1918 Influenza Epidemic The Four Legacies of Edith Nourse Rogers
"Online Programs by the Peabody Historical Society and Museum"Peabody Historical Society and Museummore
Supporting three online events: The Moses B. Paige Company: The Last of the Peabody Potteries Local 21's Quest for a Moral Economy Fire! Boston Burning
Peabody, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-05-17
amount: $1,500
400 Years Ago: Hybrid Lunch & Learn Series by Plimoth Patuxet MuseumsPlimoth Patuxet Museumsmore
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
Supporting three online events: Midcentury Modern in Fitchburg: Carl Koch's Fitchburg Paper Building Uruguay's World Cup Victory of 1951: A look at Soccer history Experiencing Fitchburg's Abolitionist History
Close Encounters by Andover Center for History & CultureAndover Historical Societymore
Supporting three online events: June Carmichael Fitzgerald, WWII WAVES and Parachute Rigger (1921- 2017) The Story of Allen and Mary Hinton - Entrepreneurs, Formerly Enslaved Addison B. LeBoutillier - Architect, Artist and Designer (1872 - 1951)
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
Wenham, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-05-17
amount: $1,500
Frederick Douglass Virtually Read by Massachusetts PatriotsThe Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation For Artists In Needmore
A community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech on the meaning of the 4th of July with The Helene Johnson and Dorothy West Foundation For Artists In Need
Oak Bluffs, MA
project director:
awarded on: 2021-05-17
amount: $2,000
Supporting three online events: The Black Community in Revolutionary Cambridge Three Centuries of Black Cambridge How Have the Arts Mended Cambridge?