Past Grants Awarded

Support for historical, contextual, and interpretive conversations between scholars, artists, and participating audience on art expressing the stories of marginalized social groups.

Support for the final planning stages of an interactive educational website on Isaiah Thomas that will introduce children, particularly high school students, to archival material.

Support for moderated conversations following a series of one-act plays written by Patrick Gabridge.

Support for a project that will fill a gap in Worcester Historical Museum's collections and result in an exhibition and related programming during 2019, the 50th anniversary of New York's Stonewall Uprising.

A project exploring how changing technologies have affected the fishing community in New Bedford that includes archival research, ethnographic interviews with members of the fishing community, two public exhibits, six panel discussions, and MA standards-based curricula for elementary and secondary school children.

Oral history collection, transcription, and creation of a gallery exhibit examining the lives and experiences of Black residents of Holyoke from the second half of the 20th century through the present.

Two public events-moderated by Scholar Kerri Greenidge and held in Cambridge and in Roslindale-based on writings by the women of Brook Farm, a 19th-century transcendentalist community in Boston.

A Literature & Medicine series, led by Scholar Ruth Rhode, at Bedford's local VA facility.

A reorganization of archival documents and electronic inventories to create a searchable, accessible inventory for both scholars and the public.

A series of discussion-based events on local history and public health, inspired by Norwood's Great Flu Epidemic of 1918 and led by Scholar Patricia Fanning.

A Literature & Medicine series, led by Scholar Kent Jacobson, at Baystate Medical Center.

Research by Scholar Stephen O'Neill on 17th-century Plymouth Colony artifacts in order to produce a draft manuscript with photos, as well as a monograph and a public lecture.

A three-part discussion series, led by Historian Bob Forrant, on immigration in the Lowell area.

A "Play Reading Book Club" for families with incarcerated members and returning citizens that will lead up to the production of "The Peculiar Patriot."

The creation, by Springfield-area youth producers, of three filmed segments, based in documentary journalism and storytelling, to explore the effects of Hurricane Maria on Springfield-area communities.

Three sections of a twelve-week course on poetry for male inmates at the Hampden County Sheriff's Department Pre-Release Center.

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.