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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.
The first online web tour of the Emily Dickinson Museum.
A virtual experience of our program, Conference of the Birds.
Offer Virtual Field Trips curriculum packages for students in grades 8-12 based on Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms which will explore America's democratic ideals and practice. Also provide Virtual Gallery tours of our new exhibitions for adults.
Stockbridge, MA
project director: Ellen Spear
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $5,000
An ongoing comprehensive digital initiative for the purposes of making valuable content available and accessible to the public, educational institutions, partnering organizations, and researchers.
Cuttyhunk, MA
project director: Robyn Weisel
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $5,000
Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians Outdoor ExhibitSheffield Historical Societymore
For the creation of a digital interactive component to an outdoor exhibit telling the story of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians in Berkshire County.
Sheffield, MA
project director: Paul O'Brien
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $1,440
For the Digital Native Connections and Ancestral Story Circles project.
Combahee’s Radical Call: Black Feminisms (Re)Awaken BostonBoston Center for the Artsmore
For Combahee’s Radical Call: Black Feminisms (Re)Awaken Boston, an online program about Combahee River Collective and how its work still impacts racial, social, and gender justice.
Boston, MA
project director: Wanda Strukus
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $5,000
Inside: A Digital Tour of the Architecture and History of Cape Ann Museum's Historic HomesCape Ann Museummore
For the creation of a digital tour of three of the museum's historic houses and a walking tour of historic Gloucester.
Gloucester, MA
project director: Miranda Aisling
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $4,989
Cradle to Grave: Enslaved and Free Africans in 18th-Century Deerfield, digital walking/virtual tourPocumtuck Valley Memorial Associationmore
For the development of a widely accessible digital walking tour and virtual visit focused on the little-known story of enslaved and free Black people in 18th-century Deerfield, MA.
Deerfield, MA
project director: Jeanne Sojka
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $5,000
Tewksbury State Hospital Intake Records Digitization & Genealogy ServicesPublic Health Museum in Massachusettsmore
For the digitization of the Tewksbury State Hospital intake records, which when completed, will be accompanied by a genealogy program, a virtual exhibit, and a website redesign showcasing newly digitized content.
Tewksbury, MA
project director: Ashlynn Rickford
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $4,985
For production of an online version of the "A Changing Way of Life" section of our new permanent exhibit and downloadable discussion guides, as well as QR codes to enable in person visitors to listen to oral history excerpts presented at five listening stations on their cell phones. A variety of audio, video, and still images will enable visitors to explore themes of labor, immigration, the environment, family & community and sea stories.
New Bedford, MA
project director: Laura Orleans
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $3,750
Winfried Sommerfeld: Historical Photos of Central Massachusetts and Cape CodPhotographic Preservation Centermore
For the production of a series of interactive online exhibits of historical photos highlighting the culture and landscape of central Massachusetts, framed as a microcosm of the American post-war way of life.
Cambridge, MA
project director: Fred Mirliani
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $3,500
Sandy Pond Schoolhouse Virtual Tour Project: Phase IISandy Pond School Associationmore
Phase II of an online virtual tour program about Ayer's historic Sandy Pond Schoolhouse, a National Register of Historic Places site, and Ayer's oldest public building.
Ayer, MA
project director: Irving Rockwood
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $800
Digital Danvers: Building New Digital Capacity for the Danvers Historical SocietyDanvers Historical Societymore
For the expansion of the Digital Danvers program to primary school-aged students and their families in Danvers and across the North Shore.
Danvers, MA
project director: Laura Cilley
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $5,000
For the creation of interactive story maps of two recent Pao Arts Center projects, Inside Chinatown and Love Letters, that will be featured on the Pao Arts Center website.
Boston, MA
project director: Cynthia Woo
awarded on: 2021-03-26
amount: $5,000
Abolition, Activism, and Social Justice from the 19th Century to Today
Newton, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Clara Silverstein
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $2,705
Centering Latinx Studies Pedagogy in Humanities ClassroomsLesley Universitymore
Workshops with Lawrence high school teachers who want to bring Latinx history, art, culture and pedagogy into their humanities classrooms.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Martha Barry McKenna
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $9,855
Bringing residents together to narrate their families’ immigration stories and to use those stories to create an audio documentary and supporting laser show, with further events to inspire deeper reflection on the immigrant experience.
Hamilton, MA, Essex County
project director: Stephanie Benenson
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $15,000
Enslaved People and Cultivation of Timber Used in Construction of the USS ConstitutionUSS Constitution Museum, Inc.more
Research, analyze and interpret the history of enslaved laborers who harvested live oak for the construction of the USS Constitution.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County
project director: Sarah Watkins
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $10,000
Youth engagement project centered on voting as a civic practice. Funding supports outreach, panel discussions, and training of youth to lead reflection workshops that follow a youth-generated play about voting.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Kortney Adams
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $10,000
Short documentary and a second short film aimed at high schools and focused on how people helped each other during and after the Holocaust.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Elsie Fetterman
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $11,250
Two-week summer residential program at UMass Amherst for 14 underserved high school students from Holyoke and Springfield, using philosophy to think through the theme of identity and diversity.
Hadley, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Julia Jorati
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $15,000
An Exploration of Past and Present in the “Kwinitekw” River Valley’s Indigenous Communities. Community dialog and lecture series on the past, present, and contemporary experiences of Indigenous communities in the Valley.
Amherst, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Olivia Stokes Dreier
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $13,706
Self-Evident - Finding Ourselves in the Declaration of IndependenceAmerican Repertory Theatermore
Community readings and a podcast series on the meaning of the Declaration of Independence to audiences today.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Ryan McKittrick & Dayron J. Miles
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $15,000
Before 1620 - Who Was Here?Wellfleet Historical Society & Museummore
Research on the collection of Native American artifacts to prepare for a permanent exhibition on Native American history and culture in Wellfleet before 1620, and to pilot a mini-exhibit and produce programming this summer on the same subject.
Wellfleet, MA, Barnstable County
project director: Sheryl Jaffe
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $10,000
Voices of Reentry - Community Conversations about Healing the Harm of Mass IncarcerationCommunities for Restorative Justicemore
Recently incarcerated persons to tell their stories and engage the public in conversation about the challenges of life after prison.
Concord, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Nomi Sofer
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $15,000
Revolution Happened HerePioneer Valley History Networkmore
Collaboration with local historical societies on a website highlighting items in their collections that reveal diverse, on-the-ground stories of the American Revolution in the Connecticut River Valley.
Belchertown, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Juliet Jacobson
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $9,040
Sparking Innovation through the HumanitiesSmithsonian Affiliations/Smithsonian Institutionmore
A take-home story and activity booklet on invention as a creative process and as local history, with teacher training to use it in the classroom, for all of Springfield’s first graders when they take a field trip to the Springfield Museums.
Springfield, MA, Hampden County
project director: Tricia Edwards
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $9,988
A week-long educator workshop on teaching histories of genocide and survival, with an emphasis on Native perspectives.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County
project director: Adam Mazo
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $15,000
Women at Work - The World of 'Domestics' in Victorian BostonGibson Society, Inc.more
Development of a new guided house tour and supporting exhibit panels to tell the story of the domestic workers who lived at the house over its 100 years of occupancy.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County
project director: Meghan Gelardi Holmes
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $5,300
Something to Talk AboutInsight Productions, Inc.more
Five Schools Speak Out about Free Speech, pre-production for a feature documentary about free speech on college campuses today, with a focus on the 5 Colleges.
Weekly classes on poetry for male inmates preparing to reenter society at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department Pre-Release Center. Participants will discuss poems and write their own, exploring how language and storytelling are central to the ways concepts like crime and humanity are defined, becoming well-versed in a literary form that will complement their work on how to deal with common uncertainties about re-entrance.
Ludlow, MA, Hampden County
project director: Susan Goodwin
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $10,790
The roots and consequences of the opium trade between China and the United States, connecting the Forbes family’s wealth derived from opium trading with contemporary debates about the opioid epidemic.
Milton, MA, Norfolk County
project director: Heidi Vaughan
awarded on: 2020-03-16
amount: $10,000
Seven female students from Berkshire Community College will be guided in developing a public presentation -- to take place before the performance of Seven -- on 7 local women who have made a significant contribution to the world around them.
New Bedford, MA, Bristol County
project director: Ashley Moore
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $3,500
Voting Rights ,Women's Suffrage and Fannie Lou HamerYWCA Of Cambridgemore
Two discussions with Billie Jean Young, creator of a one woman show on labor and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.
Cambridge, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Whitney Mooney
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $3,000
4-hour panel and discussion event focused on problematizing the creation of monuments to memorialize historical events.
Boston, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Allegra Fletcher
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $3,450
3 panel discussions, led by accomplished women of color, following 3 different plays in Company One's 2020 season, all connected by the theme of American stories.
Boston, MA, Suffolk County
project director: Ilana Brownstein
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $3,500
The Right to Vote: past, present, futureForbes Librarymore
4 panel/discussion events on 4 aspects of voting: women's suffrage, civil rights movement, current barriers to voting, and teen voting.
Northampton, MA, Hampshire County
project director: Faith Kaufmann
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $3,500
Oh, the Thinks You can See! Exploring Ideas and Images at the Springfield MuseumsSpringfield Museumsmore
Family-size group discussions of Dr. Seuss' book Oh, the Thinks You Can Think, led by a graphic facilitator who translates children's ideas into pictures, which are then displayed on a knowledge wall at the Dr. Seuss Birthday Party, the Museum's flagship event.
Springfield, MA, Hampden County
project director: Jenny Powers
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $3,500
Theater for Adult Immigrant ESL StudentsSomerville Center for Adult Learning Experiencesmore
Writing workshops with those who are homeless, transitional, and recently-housed, culminating in publication of their works in The Pilgrim magazine and four public reading and discussion programs.
Somerville, MA, Middlesex County
project director: Meryl Becker
awarded on: 2020-01-06
amount: $1,757