National Endowment for the Humanities

GRANTS IN PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Division of Public Programs
Announced: February 2007

Interpreting America's Historic Places

Consultation Grants
Continuity and Change: African American Life and Culture on a Barrier Island of Georgia, 1760-1980
Ossabaw Island Foundation
— Savannah, GA
Award: Outright; $14,935.00
Consultation with scholars and interpretive experts to examine the history of African American life on Ossabaw Island and in the Georgia Lowcountry.
A New Interpretation for the Old State House
Bostonian Society — Boston, MA
Award: Outright; $15,000.00
Consultation that would lead to new interpretive directions for the Old State House, with special attention to the era of the Revolutionary War and the founding of the country.
Interpreting Munroe Tavern as the "Museum of the British" in Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington Historical Society — Lexington, MA
Award: Outright; $15,000.00
Consultation for a reinterpretation of Munroe Tavern that would tell the story of the British military and soldiers during the American Revolution.
Melville in Context
Berkshire County Historical Society — Pittsfield, MA
Award: Outright; $13,732.00
Consultation with scholars to develop a new interpretation of Arrowhead, the home of Herman Melville, placing the author's life and work in the context of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, history.
The Home the Model T Built: Enhancing Interpretation and Programming at the Henry Ford Estate, Dearborn, Michigan
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor — Ann Arbor, MI
Award: Outright; $12,999.00
Consultation to plan historic site tours and public programs about the role of the inexpensive, mass-produced Model T Ford in transforming American life and the relationship of Henry and Clara Ford to significant reform movements of their time.
Interpreting the Contributions of African-Americans in Antebellum New York at Eight Historic House Sites in New York City
Historic House Trust of New York City — New York, NY
Award: Outright; $15,000.00
Consultation with scholars and museum professionals to develop an interpretive plan for eight historic sites that tells collectively the story of African American life in antebellum New York.
Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania — Pittsburgh, PA
Award: Outright; $14,948.00
Consultation with scholars and site visits to develop an interpretive plan for a significant archaeological site and a living history village in western Pennsylvania.

Planning Grants
Community-Wide Charles Goodnight Interpretive Plan
Frontier Pathways Scenic and Historic Byway — Pueblo, CO
Award: Outright; $35,735.00
Planning to develop an interpretive plan, partners, and educational and public programs at the site owned by Charles Goodnight, who developed the Goodnight-Loving Trail that moved cattle from Texas to Wyoming.
Creating Holyoke: Immigrants' and Migrants' Search for Community
Wistariahurst Museum/City of Holyoke — Holyoke, MA
Award: Outright; $44,900.00
Planning for three coordinated exhibits in Holyoke, Massachusetts, that approach urban history through the experiences of immigrant groups.
Telling River Stories
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities — Minneapolis, MN
Award: Outright; $45,000.00
Planning of site tours, exhibits, a website, and signage along the Mississippi riverfront in the Twin Cities to interpret the influence of the river on life in several historic, urban neighborhoods.
Preparing an Interpretive Plan for the Bethlehem Steel Site
Rutgers University, Camden — Camden, NJ
Award: Outright; $44,793.00
Planning for a symposium and collaboration with scholars to create an interpretive master plan for the abandoned Bethlehem Steel plant in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, examining local industrial history.
The Civil War Home Front in Vermont
Vermont Humanities Council — Montpelier, VT
Award: Outright; $45,000.00
Planning for a website and statewide educational and public programs to interpret approximately 100 locations significant to Vermont's participation in the Civil War.

Humanities Projects in Libraries and Archives

Planning Grants
Vaulting Ambition: The Guastavino Family and America's Great Public Spaces
Boston Public Library — Boston, MA
Award: Outright; $40,000.00
Planning of a gallery exhibition and a traveling panel exhibition with related public programs about how a family of first-generation immigrants created a business that helped to design and construct many of America's iconic public buildings between 1895 and 1962.
Rumors of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated: The Life and Work of Mark Twain
National Book Foundation — New York, NY
Award: Outright; $39,972.00
Planning of reading and discussion and other programs to be held at 100 library or other community sites around the nation along with a traveling exhibition and an extensive website about Twain and his lasting cultural influence.

Humanities Projects in Museums and Historical Associations

Consultation Grants
Interpretive Planning for the Historic Reeder Citrus Ranch: National Images and Changing Realities of Southern California
George C. and Hazel H. Reeder Heritage Foundation — Montclair, CA
Award: Outright; $10,000.00
Consultation and site visits for the interpretation of a citrus ranch in Southern California.
Hall of Echoing Caves: Re-imaging the Ancient Buddhist Caves of Xiangtangshan
University of Chicago — Chicago, IL
Award: Outright; $9,995.00
Consultation and early planning for an exhibition exploring a cave complex of sixth-century Buddhist tombs and temples created during China's Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 A.D.).
The Fiery Pool: The Maritime World of the Ancient Maya
Peabody Essex Museum — Salem, MA
Award: Outright; $10,000.00
Consultation and curatorial traveling for an exhibition, a catalog, and educational and public programs that would explore the influence of the sea on the ancient Maya people.
Pilgrimage and Asian Art
Asia Society — New York, NY
Award: Outright; $10,000.00
Consultation for a traveling exhibition, a catalog, and related educational and public programs examining relationships between pilgrimage and Asian art.
Planning the Interpretation of the Rear Yard of 97 Orchard Street
Lower East Side Tenement Museum — New York, NY
Award: Outright; $10,000.00
Consultation to plan an exhibit about sanitation and the water system in the backyard of a 19th-century tenement building that would explore issues of urban sanitation, immigrant life, the state of medical knowledge about public health, and housing reform pressures in the period 1864 to 1905.
Redefining the Speaker's Home: Interpreting the Sam Rayburn House Museum
Texas Historical Commission — Austin, TX
Award: Outright; $9,687.00
Consultation with scholars to devise ideas and themes for public interpretation of congressman Sam Rayburn's home, with special attention to its role in his career.

Planning Grants
The American Revolution in the West
Missouri Historical Society — St. Louis, MO
Award: Outright; $39,990.00
Planning for a traveling exhibition, publications, and a website examining the American Revolution as experienced in the trans-Appalachian U.S. and the changing values that came with it.
If These Walls Could Talk: The Native American Plains Tipi
Brooklyn Museum of Art — Brooklyn, NY
Award: Outright; $40,000.00
Planning for a traveling exhibition, a catalog, and supporting educational and public programs examining the Native American tipi as a center of Plains Indian culture.
Dogon Hip: Tradition and Modernity in Mali
Museum for African Art — Long Island City, NY
Award: Outright; $40,000.00
Planning for a traveling exhibition and a catalog on tradition and modernity among the Dogon and their ability to adapt their culture to changing circumstances.
American Art and the East
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation — New York, NY
Award: Outright; $40,000.00
Planning for a traveling exhibition, a catalog, and related public and educational programs exploring the influence of Asian art on American art, 1900-present.
Fortune and Folly: Images of Alchemy in Northern European Art, 1500s-1700s
Chemical Heritage Foundation — Philadelphia, PA
Award: Outright; $39,663.00
Planning of a traveling exhibition exploring alchemy as a precursor of early science and as a shaper of early modern European attitudes about humankind's ability to understand and control the natural world.

Special Projects

Planning Grants
The Shadows of Oakland
Georgia Tech Research Corporation — Atlanta, GA
Award: Outright; $38,787.00
Planning for interpretive tours of the historic Oakland Cemetery using "augmented reality" technology designed for use on smart phones and personal digital assistants.