Tag Archive for: Mississippi Department of Archives and history

Kudos Affiliates!! November 2021

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Congratulations to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments! Do you have kudos to share? Please send potential entries to Aaron Glavas, GlavasC@si.edu.

FUNDING

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced $87.8 million in American Rescue Plan funding to cultural and educational institutions to help them recover from the economic impact of the pandemic, retain and rehire workers, and reopen sites, facilities, and programs including these Affiliate organizations:

History Colorado (Denver, CO)-$500,000-the continuation of adult and youth humanities programs, an installation of new exhibits, and new technology infrastructure, the retention of five positions and creation of six new contract positions.

Kona Historical Society (Kealakekua, HI)-$50,000- the creatation of a collections assistant position to increase the collections department’s capacity to catalog, digitize, house, and store a photograph collection documenting Hawaiian local history that is not currently accessible to the public.

Dubuque Museum of Art (Dubuque, IA)-$50,000-the development and implementation of an oral history exhibition Vietnam: The Real War and The Things They Carried and the retention of 10 positions.

B & O Railroad Museum (Baltimore, MD)-$200,000-the implementation of the African American Railroad Oral Archives project, retaining eight jobs and creating three part-time positions.

USS Constitution Museum, Inc. (Boston, MA)-$199,676-the creation of “hands on” museum experiences and virtual
programming for children about the historic navy ship, the retention of seven staff positions and the restoration of four part-time positions.

Framingham State University (Framingham, MA)-$192,306-the creation of six digital humanities fellowships cut due to the pandemic, and the development of a digital humanities center.

Springfield Museums (Springfield, MA)-$117,655-updating the depiction of the history of the Native American people, retaining five jobs and creating six new contract positions.

Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI)-$200,000-the rehiring of a community history specialist to oversee the oral history collection project and the partial funding of six other staff positions.

Mississippi Department of Archives and History (Jackson, MS)-$458,007- to support ten positions for educational programming, My Mississippi: Virtual Visits and Shared Storytelling, at the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (New York, NY)-$199,510-the retention of five staff members to digitize and provide online access to the Vilna Territorial Collection, the Records of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Council, and the Jewish Customs Collection.

Cincinnati Museum Center (Cincinnati, OH)-$499,424-the creation of three curatorial and exhibition positions, as well as the retention of four archives and collections positions, for a cross-organizational project between the Cincinnati Museum Center and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati, OH) OURstory: Making History Relevant for New Generations that would build collections management and exhibition development capacity.

Oklahoma Historical Society (Oklahoma City, OK)-$93,442-the digitization of the Oklahoma Historical Society’s African American collections and retaining two jobs.

High Desert Museum (Bend, OR)-$187,487-the development of archival work and public programming on the history and culture of Central Oregon, focusing on the Plateau tribes in the region.

Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, Inc.-($87,928)-to research and develop an exhibition on the historical contributions of women and African Americans to the Delaware and Lehigh Canal region, sustaining two staff positions and creating one additional position.

Whatcom Museum Foundation (Bellingham, WA)-$158,477-to support three staff positions and consultants to deepen scholarship and enhance a core exhibit about Coastal Native people, as well as the production of an educational video and establishment of an apprenticeship program related to historical totem poles to be exhibited and preserved.

Burke Museum (Seattle, WA)-$129,677-to develop K–12 educational materials and programming on Indigenous knowledge and perspectives.

Wing Luke Memorial Foundation (Seattle, WA)-$149,468-the retention of three core humanities staff positions to support curriculum development, teacher workshops, and live-virtual and in-person school field trips.

Buffalo Bill Memorial Association (Cody, WY)-$121,272-the retention of five staff members to further develop and
implement a teacher-training program in Native American studies.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Sarasota, FL) and Gulf Coast Community Foundation announced an expansion of their long-standing partnership.  During 2022, Gulf Coast will provide grant support for a variety of programs at Selby Gardens including the Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series signature exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light; the My Garden membership program; and Seeing the Invisible: An Augmented Reality Contemporary Art Exhibition.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Rhode Island Historical Society (Providence, RI) has officially completed the return of sacred land to the Narragansett Indian Tribe. The land is believed to be the site of the “Great Swamp Massacre.” Tribe members lit three fires representing the past, present and future, and recognized the return of five acres of sacred land.

LEADERSHIP

The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs announced that Margaret M. Marino, executive director of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science (Albuquerque, NM), will retire effective Oct. 22, 2021. Marino was appointed in November 2015. A search for the Museum’s new executive director will begin immediately. Deputy Director Gary Romero will serve as acting director.

Kudos Affiliates!! October 2021

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Congratulations to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments! Do you have kudos to share? Please send potential entries to Aaron Glavas, GlavasC@si.edu.

FUNDING

The National Park Service announced $7.27 million in Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grants to support the preservation of historic buildings in rural communities across the country, including Ohio History Connection (Columbus, OH) ($750,000) for its Appalachian Region Historic Revitalization Sub-grant Program to rehabilitate and preserve historic buildings across Southeast Ohio.

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City Council, and Staten Island Borough President’s Office announced FY 2022 capital funding for the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden (Staten Island, NY) ($1.1 million) to support key infrastructure and expansion projects that will help ensure the historic cultural campus will continue to support the needs of organizations, while attracting audiences to Staten Island.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced History Colorado (Denver, CO) ($207,478) was awarded funding for the National Leadership Grants for Museums program, which supports projects that address critical needs of the museum field and that have the potential to advance practice in the profession so that museums can improve services for the American public. History Colorado will lead a collaborative effort to expand the Museums for Digital Learning (MDL) platform, an online resource providing K-12 educators with access to authentic collections-based museum resources for use in and outside the classroom. History Colorado, in partnership with the Field Museum and Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields will recruit additional museums to provide content in the form of Resource Kits that include activities such as narratives, slideshows, timelines, hotspots, games, and annotation activities, as well as ebooks.

In addition, IMLS announced $2,921,766 in CARES Act Grants to support the role of museums and libraries in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The following funded Affiliate projects were selected:

  • Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL) ($198,760) will develop digital engagement experiences for 6th-8th graders in under-resourced neighborhoods in Chicago and rural communities of Illinois. The Adler will work with an interdisciplinary team of museum practitioners, educators, astronomers, and visualization experts to engage students in STEAM learning within 3-D immersive environments, with hands-on and digital pre/post activities to deepen the impact.
  • Conner Prairie (Fishers, IN) ($320,666) will develop a digital learning initiative for preschool and K-8 teachers as an alternative to onsite field trips during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The “Conner Prairie in the Classroom” project will provide an array of digital programming, complemented by “HiSTEAMic” hands-on classroom kits to support digital learning, digital backpacks to close the digital divide, and supplementary pre- and post-educational materials for educators and parents.

The National Park Service, in partnership with IMLS, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), announced $15,500,000 in Save America’s Treasures grants including the following Affiliate preservation and conservation projects:

  • The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO) ($206,933) will inventory, process, and catalog the Jones-Miller Site, a Paleoindian Hell Gap period (ca. 10,500–11,500 years ago) bison kill site.
  • The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (Jackson, MS) ($291,109) will preserve its archaeological collections, which represent over 14,000 years of the state’s past.
  • Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT) ($52,300) will preserve and make accessible the newly acquired Witherill Ocean Liner Collection, which documents the evolution of ocean liners during a heightened period of immigration to the United States in the early to mid-twentieth century. The collection includes 7,500 pieces of documents, letters, brochures, and other ephemera pertaining to broad themes of American maritime history and culture, including accounts and documents from the Titanic and Lusitania disasters.
  • The B&O Railroad Museum (Baltimore, MD) ($500,000) will undertake a 36-month project to restore and interpret its No. 3316 ‘Washington’ Tavern-Observation Car built by the Pullman Company in 1949.  The project will provide a unique opportunity to board and go inside the car and an interpretive space to explore the impact of streamliner railroading on everyday Americans. New educational offerings will provide further interpretive information about the railroad car, particularly in the context of African American contributions to and experiences with railroading.
  • The Center for Jewish History and the American Jewish Historical Society (New York, NY) ($352,300) will digitize the Baron de Hirsch Fund Records. Founded in 1891 to support Jewish refugees fleeing pogroms and abject poverty in Russia, the Baron de Hirsch Fund trained immigrants in farming and trades and provided financial support for everything from meeting new arrivals at ports of entry and teaching English language classes to assisting with farm mortgages.
  • Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) ($336,000) for the replacement of roofing installed over newly added plywood sheath and include repairs to weathered rafters, replace deteriorating posts and beams, and re-surface a second-floor exterior balcony. Insulation between the roof and ceiling will be added to improve energy efficiency in the 70-year old structures.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

The Cosmosphere (Hutchinson, KS) won a 2021 Travelers’ Choice Award from Tripadvisor for being in the top 10% of attractions worldwide.

LEADERSHIP

The African American Museum in Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) announced Dr. Ashley Jordan has been named as the next President and CEO. Dr. Jordan, who most recently served as Senior Director of Development at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, brings significant experience managing and leading cultural institutions focused on memorializing and celebrating the African American experience in the United States.

Kudos Affiliates!!! September 2019

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Congratulations to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments! Do you have kudos to share? Please send potential entries to Aaron Glavas, GlavasC@si.edu.

FUNDING

The 19th annual Spinx Charity Classic Golf Tournament raised $106,000 for charitable organizations including the Children’s Museum of the Upstate (Spartanburg, SC). SPINX chooses beneficiaries that align with its philanthropic focus of “growing healthy kids where we live, work and play” through programs that focus on improving education, health, wellness, and moral growth for children in South Carolina.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is funding a new $6.6-million round of research grants aimed at bolstering the ability of buildings and other structures to stand up to earthquakes, hurricanes, winds, fires, and other natural disasters including $359,000 to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, CO). The funding will be used to advance the understanding of the role and transport of embers in real outdoor environments to enable effective and appropriate mitigation and defensive measures against wildland urban interface fire hazards.

nVent Foundation announced its first grants to nonprofit organizations, with a focus on youth education programs that offer hands-on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) learning experiences to young people, especially from underserved or underrepresented communities. The Foundation awarded 14 grants, including one to The Bakken Museum (Minneapolis, MN).

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) unveiled the names and locations of the museums taking part in AAM’s unprecedented national initiative to diversify museum boards and leadership.  Backed by $4 million in grants from three foundations (The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Alice L. Walton Foundation, and Ford Foundation), Facing Change: Advancing Museum Board Diversity & Inclusion, will provide the framework, training, and resources for museum leaders to build inclusive cultures within their institutions that more accurately reflect the communities they serve. The participating Affiliates include: Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL), DuSable Museum of African American History (Chicago, IL), Shedd Aquarium (Chicago, IL), Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (Fort Worth, TX), Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX), Space Center Houston (Houston, TX), The Witte Museum (San Antonio, TX), Museum of Sonoma County (Santa Rosa, CA), Museum of Mississippi History (Jackson, MS), and Old Capitol Museum (Jackson, MS).

Dubuque Museum of Art (Dubuque, IA) and Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (Miami, FL) were among 18 reaccreditations announced by The American Alliance of Museums for 2019.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Sarasota, FL) was the recipient of the prestigious Program Excellence Award given by the American Public Gardens Association (APGA) for a four-year partnership entitled “Air Plants and Other Epiphytes of Belize: A Collaborative Project Between Two Botanical Gardens and a University.” The main goal of the project was to promote in Belize the study, conservation, and display of epiphytes, an area in which Selby Gardens specializes.

The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (NCSML) (Cedar Rapids, IA), in partnership with de Novo Marketing of Cedar Rapids received the 2019 “Communicator Award of Distinction” from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. The award honors excellence in marketing and communications. The award was presented to Eric Johnson, Art Director at De Novo for his work with the NCSML writing team on the Spring-Summer 2019 issue of SLOVO Magazine, a biannual publication of the NCSML.

Kudos Affiliates! for September 2017

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Great job Affiliates!

The National Endowment for the Humanities announced more than $39 million will be awarded to nonprofit organizations including the following Affiliate initiatives:

Portrait of Leonard Berstein, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

  • Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Denver, CO) $300,000
    To support a project to rehouse an archaeology collection of 72,000 objects that focuses on North America. The artifacts will be moved to the LEED-certified Avenir Collections Center and placed on custom-created storage mounts and in new cabinetry.
  • Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, CT) $154,811
    To support a four-week institute for twenty college and university faculty to study the social, cultural, and environmental history of American maritime regions.
  • Kentucky Historical Society (Lexington, KY) $300,000
    To prepare for digital publication of the papers of the governors of Kentucky during the Civil War.
  • Mississippi Department of Archives and History (Jackson, MS) $274,175
    To progress the Mississippi Digital Newspaper Project, Phase Three
  • National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA) $250,000
    To implement a traveling exhibition about American composer Leonard Bernstein on the centennial of his birth.
  • Buffalo Bill Center of the West (Cody, WY) $200,000
    To upgrade environmental controls and improve fire and security systems at the Cody Firearms Museum, which houses a collection of 7,000 firearms and more than 20,000 related objects chronicling the development of firearms from 1425 to the present.

Humanities Nebraska recently awarded a $5,500 grant to the Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum (Ashland, NE) for the case and signage of a new exhibit on Astronaut Clayton Anderson.

kudos Affiliates! September 2015

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Affiliates end the summer with great news from the National Endowment for the Humanities and impressive accomplishments all around.  Bravo!

FUNDING

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced $36.6 million in grants for 212 humanities projects including the following Affiliate awarded initiatives:

Project Title: American Indian Boarding Schools: History and Legacy, Transition in American Indian Boarding Schools Project
Description: Planning for the reinterpretation and expansion of a permanent exhibition, two traveling exhibitions, and a catalog that would examine the experience of Native American youth in boarding and tribal schools from the nineteenth century to the present.

  • Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT ($168,134)

Project Title: The American Maritime Commons Project
Description: A five-week institute for twenty college and university faculty on America’s maritime history.

  • Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS ($253,293)

Project Title: Mississippi Digital Newspaper Project, Phase Two

Project Title: Demon Times: Temperance, Immigration, and Progressivism Project
Description: Two one-week workshops for seventy-two school teachers on temperance and immigration in the Progressive Era.

Project Title: From Immigrants to Citizens: Asian Pacific Americans in the Northwest Project Description: Two one-week workshops for seventy-two school teachers to explore the histories and cultures of Asian immigrants in the Pacific Northwest and their significance to the nation.

Project title: Optimization of the Preservation Environment
Description: For preservation, collections and building management stakeholders to work collaboratively to achieve the best possible preservation environment, with the least possible energy consumption, that is both sustainable and appropriate to the particular collections that reside within the Center’s walls.

  • Tsongas Industrial History Center, Lowell, MA  (UMass Lowell + National Park Service)  ($161,988)

Project Title: Inventing America: Lowell and the Industrial Revolution Project
Description: Two one-week workshops for seventy-two school teachers on the textile industry in Lowell, Massachusetts, as a case study of early nineteenth-century industrialization.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) announced that the organization will be awarding a $7,120 grant to the Museum of Appalachia (Clinton, TN), to aid with the Peter’s Homestead Roof Preservation and Restoration Project on an early 1800’s rare saddle bag style log house in Appalachian Pioneer Village.

The Boeing Company and Mrs. June Boeing, wife of the late William E. Boeing, Jr., announced a philanthropic partnership, each contributing $15 million to significantly expand science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education offered through The Museum of Flight (Seattle, WA). These investments will launch the Boeing Academy for STEM Learning, a vigorous, new STEM-focused education initiative that aims to double the number of students served by the Museum’s immersive programs over the next two years, particularly from communities underrepresented in STEM fields, and connect them to fulfilling, in-demand jobs.

Ultimaker, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of 3D printers, based in the Netherlands, recently gifted nine new 3D printers valued at nearly $21,000, to the Maker Studio at Union Station Kansas City’s Science Center, Science City (Kansas City, MO). The donation will allow better support of STEAM education during walk-up workshops and demos, school field trips, professional development programs for teachers, and special events.

The South Dakota State Historical Society (Pierre, SD) has received a $25,000 challenge grant from Pierre philanthropist Mansour Karim to fund an event for the Great Sioux Horse Effigy Return Celebration scheduled for October 10-12, 2015.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island, NY) is one of several Staten Island cultural organizations to receive a share of almost $1.8 million for various infrastructure projects by the city.

Virgin America announced an education-themed partnership with the Frontiers of Flight Museum (Dallas, TX). As part of the partnership, the Burlingame, California-based airline will provide scholarships for students enrolled in the organization’s Flight School and other educational programs.

ACHIEVEMENTS and RECOGNITION 

Lynn Kelly, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island, NY), has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

LEADERSHIP CHANGES

The American Jazz Museum (Kansas City, MO) announced the appointment of Ralph Reid as interim CEO. Reid retired this year from Sprint, where he was a Vice President and President of the Sprint Foundation.