HISTORY is proud to announce the winners of Save Our History National Grants for the 2009 - 2010 grant cycle. This year, HISTORY awarded grants of up to $10,000 to 11 history organizations across the country. We congratulate the winners for their dedication to local preservation efforts, and look forward to hearing about the progress of their Save Our History projects
1. Chilkoot Indian Association
Haines, AK
Partner: Haines Borough Schools
Description: 3.5 Mile Cemetery Restoration
Along the Haines Highway in Southeast Alaska, there is a neglected Tlingit Grave Site called 3.5 mile cemetery, dating from 1880-1928. After 100 years, railings surrounding the cemetery have decayed and headstones have fallen over or settled into the ground. Haines students will restore and preserve this cemetery and the history of the Tlingit Tribe through maps and a DVD that will be shown at the Cemetery Visitors Center.
2. Florida Air Museum
Lakeland, FL
Partner: Central Florida Aerospace Academy
Description: Florida's Flying Boats — The First Airline Passenger Service
On January 1, 1914 the newly formed St. Petersburg – Tampa Airboat Line, the world's first airline service using winged aircraft, made history as the renowned test pilot Tony Jannus flew the first airline passenger across Tampa Bay. Students will research the airline service and create a museum exhibit on the St. Petersburg - Tampa Airboat Line. In addition, a "Florida's Flying Boat's Museum Day" will be held during National Transportation Week.
3. Friends of the Woodlawn Cemetery
Bronx, NY
Partner: High School of American Studies at Lehman College
Description: The Woodlawn Biography Project: Leaders of the Harlem Renaissance
The Friends of the Woodlawn Cemetery is undertaking a project to build a database of biographical sketches of the 307,000 individuals memorialized at the historic burial ground. Established in 1863, the 400-acre cemetery is the final resting place of many celebrated individuals specifically known for their involvement in "The Harlem Renaissance." Students will research the lives of 180 individuals using original records maintained by the cemetery, archived library collections, and Ancestry.com. Students will write biographies of the individuals which will then be used to create a documentary shown in schools and elected officials in the community.
4. Greenville County Preservation Commission
Greenville, SC
Partner: Greenville County School District
Description: If These Walls Could Speak: African American History in Early Greenville
Greenville County Historic Preservation Commission and the School District of Greenville County are working together to rescue, relocate, restore and interpret a historic cabin built originally for slaves but occupied by African-American families as late as 1930. While some students will help restore the structure itself, other teams of teachers and students will assist with the interpretation process. All findings will be used for information panels on the walls and alongside artifacts at the cabin.
5. Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society
Hershey, PA
Partner: Hershey High School
Description: Hershey Before Hershey
The Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society and Hershey High School will develop extensive web resources that highlight the history of Hershey, PA before the advent of the Hershey Chocolate Company. Students will create an interactive map of the early township focusing on the ethnicity of its residents from the time of European settlers to the 20th century.
6. Huntsville/Madison County Historical Society
Huntsville, AL
Partner: Huntsville High School
Description: Real People, Real History: Madison County, Alabama, 1861-1865
Huntsville Historical Society will create an online resource and exhibit area that preserves the public and private memories of Civil War-era individuals who lived in Madison County, AL between 1861 and 1865. Students will conduct primary source research, and then create a website from which the public can read and explore period documents such as diaries, letters,and photographs. This will be part of Madison County's planned commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.
7. Knox County Historical Sites
Knoxville, IL
Partner: Knoxville High School
Description: Knox County Historic Sites Tour
The Knox County Historical Sites and Knoxville High School will create a walking / driving tour of sites of special historical significance to Knoxville, IL. The walking tour will be recorded professionally to MP3 players that will be available in a new museum. A student made DVD of the project will also be created.
8. Nashville Public Library Foundation
Nashville, TN
Partner: Hillwood High School
Description: Interpreting the Dream: Nashville's Civil Rights History Through the Teen Lens
Through a photo documentary project and exhibit, the Nashville Public Library and Hillwood High School students will help preserve and publicize Nashville's rich civil rights legacy. The students will learn the historical significance of their city in the civil rights movement and learn about documenting history and locations through photography.
9. Pioneer Historical Society of Bent County
Las Animas, CO
Partner: Las Animas High School
Description: Hands-on History: Teaching Bent County History Through Museum Management
The Pioneer Historical Society will be educating students about caring for their heritage through the proper handling, preservation, cataloguing, research and exhibition of historic artifacts from the Dust Bowl era. With the help of new database software and a curator, students will catalogue the research of 5,000 artifacts at the Kit Carson Museum that previously were only paper records. The final project will include an exhibit and open house to showcase the research and artifacts.
10. Robert Russa Moton Museum
Farmville, VA
Partner: Governor's School of Southside Virginia
Description: Moton Museum: Search for Displaced Students During the Closed Schools Era in Prince Edward County Virginia
The Moton Museum and Prince Edward County students will do primary research to identify, locate and collect documention of the displaced students of the Closed Schools Era in Prince Edward County, site of the landmark Supreme Court Case Brown v. Board of Education. More than 1100 black students were displaced as a result of the conflict surrounding the case that declared separate but equal education unconstitutional. All findings and artifacts will be housed in an exhibit at the Moton Museum.
11. Surface Creek Valley Historical Society
Cedaredge, CO
Partner: Cedaredge High School
Description: Remembering Our Orchards: An Historic Environmental Study of Agriculture in the Surface Creek Valley
Surface Creek Valley Historical Society will partner with the Cedaredge High School to educate students about the agricultural heritage of the Surface Creek Valley, the orchard industry, and the fruit growers interaction with their environment. The students will research, collect, record, and digitally preserve local history about the orchard industry and create an exhibit of their findings.
