Press Release

Contact: Sheryl Hayes
Sheryl@virginia.edu
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
145 Ednam Drive Charlottesville, VA
22903-4629
Phone:(434)924-3296
Fax: (434)296-4714
For Immediate Release
April 13, 2009

VIRGINIA FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIES ANNOUNCES
GRANTS TO ORGANIZATIONS THROUGHOUT VIRGINIA

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities has recently awarded 17 grants totaling $90,200 to assist Virginia organizations in their efforts to research and interpret Virginia’s rich history.

Recipients of the grants include museums, colleges and universities, independent film companies, civic groups, and historic sites. Grant-supported activities will take place across Virginia cities and counties, from Machipongo on the Eastern Shore to Big Stone Gap in the Southwest, from Salem to Smithfield, from Dillwyn to Manassas.

The funds will be used to support public forums, exhibits and catalogues, interpretative brochures, publications, research, workshops for teachers and museum professionals, and   oral history workshops.

Grants were awarded to the following organizations and projects:

Barrier Islands Center                                                                                 Machipongo  

Patchwork of Virginia Music Festival       
$7,000  to support a one-day interpretive music festival and accompanying publication presenting distinctive musical traditions from various parts of Virginia.

Buckingham Training School Commemoration                                         Dillwyn          

Separate and Unequal     
$7,500 to support research, community forums and teacher workshops, and publication of an interpretive pamphlet and lesson plan focusing on the history of Buckingham Training School, the first high school for African Americans in Buckingham County. 

Columbia Pike Revitalization Project                                                         Arlington       

The Columbia Pike Documentary Project      
$5,000 to support photo and oral history documentation of the people, buildings and changes taking place along Columbia Pike in Arlington, leading to an exhibit and related programs to be developed in conjunction with the "Pike's" 200th anniversary in 2010.

Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society                                               Onancock      

Interpreting Hopkins & Bros. Store          
$7,500 to support the development of a permanent exhibit and accompanying interpretive booklet on the history of Hopkins & Bros. Store in Onancock, now a state and federal historic landmark.

Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society                                              Onancock      

20th Century Farm Life in Accomack, an Oral History Project        
$8,000 to support the first phase of a three-part project focusing on 20th century farm life on Virginia's Eastern Shore, beginning with oral history interviews with current and former farmers in Accomack County.

Friends of the Southwest Virginia Museum                                               Big Stone Gap

Gathering in the Gap 2009                       
$6,200 to support a series of interpretive workshops, to be presented as part of the 2009 "Gathering in the Gap" music festival.

Library of Virginia Foundation                                                                 Richmond     

Virginia Women in History -- 2009           
$2,000 to support printing and distribution of a poster acknowledging the contributions of eight Virginia women to the fields of literature, scholarship, politics, education and community development.

Manassas Museum System                                                                           Manassas       

From Cows to Condos     
$1,500 to support design and printing of an interpretive brochure, designed to complement and help launch an exhibit and series of related programs on the transformation of Prince William County from an agricultural to a suburban region.

Mary Ball Washington Museum and Library                                            Lancaster      

African Americans in Lancaster County, Virginia, Phase III  
$9,000 to support the final phase of a 3-part project focusing on slave and slave-owner data gathered through an in-depth study of estate books and other public records in Lancaster County.

Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. Locust Grove         

Interpretive Exhibit Planning                    
$5,000 to support planning and design of a permanent exhibit on the history of the first groups of German immigrants to settle in Colonial Virginia.

Prince William County Public Schools                                                       Manassas       

Virginia Indians: Reclaiming Our Heritage   
$9,000 to support Script development for a one-hour video documentary on Virginia Indian history, covering the period from 1720 to the present day.

Refugee and Immigration Services                                                             Richmond     

Africans in Richmond      
$3,000 to support development of a treatment for a one-hour documentary film on the African immigrant communities and the impact of African immigration in Richmond.

Roanoke College                                                                                           Salem 

Knowing Vietnam            
$2,000 to support one in a series of programs on Vietnamese history and culture.

Robert Russa Moton Museum                                                                     Farmville       

Bound for Freedom: An Educator's Adventures in Prince Edward County  
$5,000 to support republication of the 1965 book "Bound for Freedom" by Neil Sullivan, who led successful efforts to open a federally funded Free School in Prince Edward County during the period when its public schools were closed to avoid desegregation.

Schoolhouse Museum Foundation                                                              Smithfield      

Schoolhouse Museum Oral History Project                            
$5,000 to support continuation of an oral history project focusing on African American education in Smithfield and Isle of Wight County during the years prior to integration.

Stratford Hall Plantation                                                                             Stratford       

Stratford Hall Symposium on Slavery       
$5,000 to support a three-day teachers institute on slavery, examining this complex topic from a broad range of perspectives and designed to provide teachers with resource that will aid in their classroom teaching.

University of Richmond                                                                               Richmond     

Oyate Workshop              
$2,500 to support supplies for a one-week workshop for teachers and museum professionals focusing on ways to identity authentic and respectful portrayals of native people and tribal communities, Virginia Indians in particular.

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, based in Charlottesville, is a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the humanities, and to using the humanities to address issues of broad public concern.

In all of its programs, the Foundation works to make scholarship accessible; to promote understanding and discussion of enduring and contemporary issues; and to broaden the range of educational opportunities available to all Virginians.   

For further information, contact Sheryl Hayes at 434-924-3296 or Sheryl@virginia.edu.