Past Grants Awarded

A disability-studies exhibit-to accompany a tactile art exhibit- on the history of accessibility in arts programming and on how both blind and sighted artists and audiences influence and affect the fine arts.

The development and launch of a digital public history project, combined with an annual History Harvest event, at which community members will share their own artifacts and stories.

A project that uses performance and documentary photography to allow middle-school students in Springfield to learn about Puerto-Rican immigrant experiences in their community.

An out-of-school digital humanities project to introduce teenagers to local history and archival research, which will result in the creation of a replicable curriculum.

A series of public programs to complement the fall production of Macbeth that will engage audiences-including Boston Public School students and young people recommended to the program by the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Child and Family Services-in debates about language in productions of Shakespeare's plays.

A project that connects experienced scholars with a cohort of Chinatown laborers-who will participate in six workshops on local history, national Chinatown histories, immigration, and documentary photography-to create original materials for a future exhibition.

A program for young people in Boston that will combine literary discussion, archival research, and community interviews in order for participants to learn and write about Boston as a city, while focusing on the history and community of an individual street.

Research and organization of three discussion events for Puerto Rican community members to compare events in Worcester that took place in the 1960s with the current reception of those relocating in Worcester due to Hurricane Maria.

A year-long project that asks high school students to consider the ethical and philosophical questions raised by controversial public monuments-including those debated nationally, as well as controversial removals and renamings of Boston-area landmarks.

The creation and implementation of in-school post-show workshops to accompany Theatre Espresso's historical plays held each year at the John Adams Courthouse for Boston Public School students.

Four moderated discussions to accompany performances of "The Burials", a play addressing gun violence in schools.

Two events celebrating the work and legacy of Frederick Douglass: a performed mock trial with a community discussion and Worcester's annual Reading Frederick Douglass event.

Inventory and creation of a finding aid for recently obtained records from the Chester Square Area Neighborhood Association.

Inventory and creation of a searchable catalog of the Society's Photographic Collection.

Inventory and processing of the Fruitlands Shaker Collection of journals, church membership logs, sermons, and financial records.

Necessary re-processing of a portion of the Denton Family Collection.

A four-part discussion series on influental works by Ella Baker, Lucy Stone, Dolores Huerta, and Ida B. Wells.

A moderated discussion on Leigh Fought's recently published "Women in the World of Frederick Douglass", as well as Lynn's annual Reading Frederick Douglass event.

A five-part lecture and discussion series on Pittsfield local history.

A six-week reading and discussion series for children and their caregivers intended to provoke conversations on immigration.

A public discussion, moderated by popular scholar and speaker Donovan Livingston, on the media's role in how equity and diversity are understood and addressed in schools.

A book group focused on Anna Douglass, in addition to New Bedford's annual "Reading Frederick Douglass" event.

Plainfield's third annual "Reading Frederick Douglass" event in July as well as an October reading of (parts of) "The Constitution of the United States followed by moderated discussion.

Brockton's annual "Reading Frederick Douglass" event offered in twelve languages this year.

A series of eleven discussion on "forgotten" episodes in women's history.

Research and planning for an exhibition on religious institutions and groups in Somerville, with the intention of tackling issues of immigration, religious tradition and history, and religious practices, and contemporary religious communities.

The implementation of an online user interface to promote distribution of the film that will allow organizations and individuals to host screenings and to download a screening guide (with historical context and discussion questions).

The creation of a film trailer to raise funds for a visitors film-supported by input from historians and legal scholars-for the John Adams Courthouse.

A film distribution project, including the creation of an interactive website and curriculum guide-both focused on constitutional law, ethics, and the history of conflict in the United States-as well as a large, public Massachusetts screening and discussion (preceding the film's broadcast on WGBY).

A public event with graphic novelist and scholar John Jennings and other scholars of black comics, which will push audiences to consider questions about the history of black comics, Afro-futurism, colonialism, civil rights, and the future of publishing.

The development of new mini-courses-regarding the radical social reformers who settled in Florence in the 1840s, and what their stories teach about contemporary issues-for visiting school groups, which will be brought to teachers in a professional development workshop.

Research and planning for a permanent exhibit about the events based in Arlington on the first day of the American Revolution: April 19, 1775.

The design and production of a walking-tour brochure of Boston's Chinatown, intended to complement the city's other self-guided walking tours, including the Freedom Trail, Black Heritage Trail, and Women's Trail.

The introduction of already-successful humanities-based programs to adults in the Boston area; the organization's programs-originally created for teens and young adults-are based on songs and stories of the sea that include the oft-ignored experiences of African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, young people, and women.

The implementation of permanent exhibitions "Stories of Westford" and "History of Westford Academy," which will engage audiences in the history of Westford Academy-the state's oldest standing coeducational secondary school building-and Westford's beginnings.

A series of public programs based on the influence and legacy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to take place during the celebratory summer of 2018, which marks the 350th-anniversary of the House's founding.

A photography-and-cultural-studies project with recently arrived immigrants in ESOL classes; adult students will find opportunities to document, reflect on, and share their own stories and experiences, while also learning from their classmates and from humanities-based texts and photographs.

A one-day symposium on the history and future of public health in Lawrence.

Distribution of the documentary film "9 to 5" by means of community screenings and discussions-with a prepared discussion guide-in partnership with community organizations, unions, labor schools, and scholars in Boston and Western Massachusetts.

Development of new public humanities programs to complement an upcoming exhibition by Taryn Simon, whose art revolves around Russian culture and Russo-American relations.