CHDFGrants02030406

CHDF Grants Awarded February - April, 2006

Total: 27 grants, $268,511.00

Cornwall

Cornwall Historical Society $3,984

Mapping the Future

The Cornwall Historical Society received $3,984 to engage a professional museum cataloguer/curator to further develop computer systems, train volunteers and catalogue the Society's collection. The project focuses on the society's map collection and will lead to an exhibition chronicling the town's growth with the intention of helping residents make informed decisions about future growth.

Darien

YWCA Darien-Norwalk $3,500

3rd Annual Festival of Words

With $3,750 in CHDF support, YWCA of Darien & Norwalk will conduct its third annual Festival of Words, a free, day-long celebration of literature held at Norwalk Community College. The festival includes a full schedule of author appearances, workshops, book signings, and other activities.

Essex

Connecticut River Museum $4,200

Launching Liberty: The Connecticut Valley in the American Revolution

The Connecticut River Museum was awarded $4,450 to install an eight-month exhibition about the River Valley's contributions to and experiences during the American Revolution. The exhibit will be supported by an expanded website and educational programming for school children and adults. The exhibit and the website will open in late May 2006 and are planned in conjunction with the 225th anniversary of General Rochambeau's march through Connecticut.

Connecticut River Museum $19,772

River Connections - Planning Part II

The Connecticut River Museum was awarded $20,022 in CHDF support to continue planning for the museum's long-term comprehensive and object-rich exhibition exploring the Connecticut River. The Council previously awarded a $4,953 planning grant to engage scholars to identify and develop exhibition themes.

Glastonbury

Greater Hartford Assoc. of Historic Houses & Museums $673

2006 GHAHHM Interpreter Training Symposium

The Greater Hartford Association of Historic Houses & Museums, a professional

organization for staff members from museums and heritage organizations, received $673 in support to conduct its annual one-day professional development program for museum interpreters. This year's program focuses on Connecticut's role in the American Revolution.

Hamden

Connecticut Trust For Historic Preservation $18,789

Historic Barns of Connecticut

The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation was awarded $19,039 CHDF

implementation support for the third and final phase of the Trust's Connecticut barn documentation project. This phase will update the website, www.connecticutbarns.org, by integrating and posting information collected in the survey and documentation phase of the project. The website will contain a database of over 350 images of documented barns. The Trust will also conduct workshops to train volunteers to continue the documentation project for their communities. This follows a $5,000 technical assistance grant awarded in

the summer of 2004 and a $16,237 planning grant awarded in June, 2005.

Hartford

Antiquarian and Landmarks Society $2,500

Heritage Destinations for School Aged Children

The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society received $2,500 to produce and distribute an education brochure for schools in Connecticut that promotes the society's many on-site and off-site heritage learning opportunities for school age children.

Antiquarian and Landmarks Society $12,530

Hale Homestead Interpretive Plan

The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society received $12,530 in CHDF planning support to engage a variety of consultants to create an interpretive plan for the Nathan Hale Homestead site. The house is the site of the birthplace of our state hero in Coventry. This grant follows a $19,180 award in 2002 for a two-day charette to discuss interpretive strategies for the site, a series of corresponding reports by the consultants, and an $18,000 grant to support a landscape interpretation/use plan for the site.

Connecticut Historical Society $24,000

Development of A Strategy For Promoting Visitation to Key Hartford-Area Major Attractions

The Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) on behalf of nine consortium members

(Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, the Connecticut State Library/Museum, Hill-Stead Museum, the Mark Twain House, Real Art Ways, Science Museum of Connecticut, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center and the Wadsworth Atheneum) received $24,000 in planning support to work with consultants to help build Hartford's identity as a heritage destination for tourists.

Mark Twain House $2,291

The Twain Lecture Series: Lectures by Dr. Robert Hirst and Steven Courtney

The Mark Twain House & Museum received $2.201 in support for two of its new series of lectures focused on the life and works of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). With this grant, the lectures are open to the public at no cost.

Kensington

New Britain Youth Museum at Hungerford Park $5,000

Technical Assistance for Long Range Planning

With $5,000 in CHDF support, the New Britain Youth Museum will engage a consultant to help determine its programming and strategic direction over the next decade at both its downtown New Britain and Hungerford Park sites.

Litchfield

Litchfield Historical Society $3,744

The Mary Perkins Quincy Collection

The Litchfield Historical Society will use $3,744 in funding to catalog a collection of archival materials donated by a lifelong resident of Litchfield and her heirs. These papers are potentially very interesting to researchers and could support exhibitions and educational programs, but are currently inaccessible.

New Britain

New Britain Museum of American Art $4,500

What's American in American Art? - Humanities Outreach Pilot

New Britain Museum of American Art was awarded $4,500 for the second phase of its pilot project to reinterpret the Thomas Hart Benton mural cycle, "The Arts of Life in America." NBMAA has engaged Dr. Bruce Chambers, an independent scholar, to research appropriate humanities themes and develop an exhibition script for the reinstallation of these Depression-era, inherently public works of art. This proposal requests support for more of Dr. Chambers' time, as well as additional honoraria for public history and tourism consultants.

New Haven

Acorn Club $2,500

Original Discontents: Documents Relating to the Framing and Ratification of Connecticut's Constitution of 1818

The Acorn Club, a membership organization of Connecticut Historians, received $2,500 to republish 19th-century newspaper commentaries and other materials relating to the framing and ratification of Connecticut's Constitution of 1818.

New Haven Colony Historical Society $4,668

Planning Grant for Special Exhibition on the Federal Art Project in New Haven, 1933-1941

The New Haven Colony Historical Society received $4,918 for the planning phase of a special exhibition on the Federal Art Project in New Haven, an arts program of the New Deal that helped reinforce local historical identity and create greater cultural awareness.

New Haven Colony Historical Society $19,257

Visitor Orientation Center

New Haven Colony Historical Society will use a $19,507 CHDF implementation grant to develop and install a new Visitor Orientation Center in the rotunda of its Whitney Street site. The Council previously awarded a $7,550 planning grant for the project.

Peabody Museum of Natural History $1,800

Art and Writing in Ancient Egypt

The Yale Peabody Museum received $4,050 to host a symposium on the theology and meaning of hieroglyphics in Egyptian culture, given by Yale grad Dr, Colleen Manassa. Dr. Manassa will give a lecture and lead a gallery talk through the Museum's permanent exhibition on ancient Egypt. The gallery talk will be recorded and made available as a downloadable pod cast.

New London

Custom House Maritime Museum $5,000

Thames River Maritime 2006 Celebration

The Customs House Maritime Museum, on behalf of numerous cultural organizations on both sides of the Thames River, received $5,000 in CHDF support to host five months of programming to celebrate and promote the maritime heritage of the Thames River. This is the fifth year of Humanities Council support for the festival, with past grants ranging between $15,000 and $22,000.

New London County Historical Society $2,000

Strategic Planning for the New London County Historical Society

The New London County Historical Society received $2,000 to conduct strategic planning to determine how best to focus the society's resources on making a significant impact on the community's understand of the role of history in defining our present.

New London County Historical Society $8,600

225th Anniversary of the Battle of Groton Heights and the Burning of New London

In cooperation with local volunteer groups, New London County Historical Society received $8,850 in CHDF support to reenact Benedict Arnold's attack on New London and Groton Heights in September 1781. The attack was the only full-scale Revolutionary War battle to take place in Connecticut and the reenactment will feature nearly 1,000 uniformed volunteers and be viewed by thousands of residents and visitors to the city.

New London Main Street Corporation $2,500

New London Through Time and Place: A Living History Play

New London Main Street, one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street programs in Connecticut, received $2,750 to work with consultants to assess and enhance its CHC-funded, multi-site living history play to physically and thematically link it to three significant New London historic sites: Hempstead Houses, Shaw Perkins Mansion and the Custom House Maritime Museum.

Ridgefield

Ridgefield Historical Society $3,080

"March to Victory Weekend" 225th Anniversary of the Washington - Rochambeau Route in Ridgefield, CT

The Ridgefield Historical Society was awarded $3,330 in CHDF support to conduct a series of events and educational programs for the public that commemorate the town's role in Rochambeau's historic march through Connecticut during the American Revolution. The project includes lectures, story-telling, musical performances, exhibitions and living history events.

South Windsor

Wood Memorial Library $1,123

Defining Place - An Impassioned Journey into Our Past

Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor received $1,123 to host two lectures and a guided tour of the Wadsworth Atheneum conducted by Connecticut scholar William Hosley. The program focuses on master craftsmen of Connecticut over the past 250 years.

Waterbury

Mattatuck Historical Society $5,000

Native American Material Culture Cataloging Project

The Mattatuck Museum was awarded $5,000 to recatalog and rehouse its Native American material culture collection with the longer-term aim of strengthening its public programming relating to the Native peoples who lived in the greater Waterbury area. They will be working with Central Connecticut State University faculty and students to identify the various objects in their collection, create descriptive catalog records, and enter the data into their new database.

Mattatuck Historical Society $100,000

Coming Home: Building Community in a Changing World

Mattatuck Museum received $100,000 in CHFD support to construct and install a 6,000 square foot exhibit on the history of Waterbury from the 17th through the 20th centuries at the museums downtown location.

West Hartford

Junior League of Hartford $5,000

Junior League of Hartford Children's Brochure

The Junior League of Hartford, in partnership with the Greater Hartford Arts Council, was awarded $5,000 to produce a brochure highlighting activities for children in Greater Hartford. This brochure promotes over 100 activities and destinations, including museums, historic sites, nature centers, parks, and special places. The brochure is accompanied by a website featuring links to the various attractions.

Woodbury

Seabury Society for the Preservation of the Glebe House, Inc. $2,500

History Bites: Marching Through Time

The Glebe House received $2,500 to conduct a series of lunchtime lectures on topics in Connecticut history in conjunction with nine northwest Connecticut heritage organizations. Now in its sixth year, the program features a noontime lecture at one of the ten organizations each week that draws attendance from towns throughout the northwest part of the state.