Past Grants Awarded

A year-long project focusing on the history of the underground railroad in Greenfield that combines individual research, presentations, and an after school program.

A two-part living history program featuring Elena Dodd as Eleanor Roosevelt and the Master Singers of Worcester performing a cantata about Eleanor Roosevelt's life and accomplishments.

An art exhibit featuring African sculptures and an accompanying series of lectures and workshops about hair in African and African American cultures to be held in various Worcester venues.

Reading and discussion program coinciding with a larger year-long series centered around letters.

A reading and discussion series based on the stories of individuals who are somehow displaced, removed, or voluntarily in exile from their home contexts.

Professional photography for the book: "Quilts: The Social Fabric of Massachusetts."

A series of workshops for secondary and post-secondary teachers, focusing on the use of primary sources.

An oral history project to collect the memories of leather business workers and those knowledgeable about the impact of the leather industry on the daily lives of Peabody residents.
(project website)

A series of ten public programs examining the contemporary challenges to the ideals of "liberty and justice for all" on which the United states is founded. Each public program is later broadcast nationwide and available for download at WGBH on-demand.

A four-exhibit series on immigration and migration to Holyoke.

The creation of three "Hands-on-History" galleries for family learning at the Old State House Museum in Boston.

The production of a 15-minute film to augment the Provincetown Public Library's exhibit of a half-sized replica of the schooner Rose Dorothea.

A workshop on the reading and writing of poetry for Berkshire County elementary, middle and high school teachers.

Preproduction support for a documentary film that explores New England Native identity from the point of view of view of language preservation and loss.

A library reading and discussion series focusing on the political history of the Modern Middle East (formerly a council-conducted program).

Programming and resources to accompany an exhibit of Currier & Ives prints, including a panel discussion, an on-line version of the exhibit, and an exhibition/program brochure.

A summer teachers' institute that will equip teachers with the knowledge and curricular resources necessary for teaching about the modern Middle East.

The Actors' Shakespeare Project's summer teaching institute on teaching Shakespeare, centering on their Boston production of Hamlet

Interpretive historical signage (wayside exhibits) to be installed in the Concord River Greenway park, a large community project preserving land along the east bank of the Lowell portion of the Concord River.

An oral history project that will be conducted in conjunction with the third Working Waterfront Festival, a celebration of the occupational culture of the commercial fishing industry.

A bilingual audio tour and public programs in conjunctions with an upcoming exhibit, "Mi Puerto Rico: Master Painters of the Island, 1785-1952."

The publication of a catalogue of the Concord Museum's Thoreau collection that includes his desk, walking stick, flute, spyglass, and other objects.

Educational programs for K-12 students using the Lexington Historical Society's collection of documents and artifacts and its three Colonial properties that figured in the Battle of Lexington.

Preproduction of a documentary about Somali women adjusting to life in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The production of a documentary about the Sisters of Providence in Holyoke, Massachusetts, who founded public healthcare institutions in the region.

An exhibition of the foundational documents of Massachusetts including the 1629 Massachusetts Bay Charter, to be displayed at the Massachusetts Archives.

Production grant for this documentary about three years in a multicultural Catholic parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

The installation of an "outdoor museum" of historic markers in Northampton.

A summer series of eleven interactive living history performances.

A theater piece based on oral history interviews with military women from Massachusetts who have served in Afghanistan or Iraq.

The creation of an inventory of the journals and writings of three generations of the Harwood family. The final product will be a guide to the Harwood family papers.

The entering of historical deeds from the Dyer collection into a database to be made available at the Shaw Memorial Library in Plainfield.

A study of the male overseers at Lowell's ante-bellum textile mills.

A study of the records and product samples from Daveys, a Worcester handbag company. The records now reside with the Worcester Historical Museum.

A study of the development of the straw-braiding and textile industries in Stoughton and Easton from before the War of 1812 to approximately 1840, as reflected in the Hodges Collection of business ledgers and day books.

Archival research into the artifacts related to food history held by both Andover and North Andover Historical Societies. Resources developed will be used for new programs.

A research project to determine the farming and dairying activities that occurred at the Bryant Homestead from 1900-1959.

An investigation of the Crypt of the Old North Church to determine who is buried there.

The planning, design, and fundraising phases of a permanent exhibit on the history of the Gloucester fishing industry.

The development of routes and tours for a newly purchased trolley in the City of Waltham.