We’re excited to announce grants to five organizations working to teach and preserve Arkansas History and make information more accessible to Arkansans. Funding for the grants comes from our Bridge Fund Endowment, created at the Community Foundation in 1993 to serve as a bridge between Arkansas’s past and future by supporting education, libraries and the teaching/promotion of Arkansas history.
Grants from the endowment are made throughout Arkansas for schools, archives, local county and state historical societies and museums for projects to provide training for teachers of Arkansas history; to facilitate teaching and learning of state and local history; and to increase the knowledge and understanding of Arkansas history, especially through research and publication.
This year’s grants were awarded to:
Central Arkansas Library Foundation, for an outreach project to increase access to library branches, including bus service to transport students to the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Hillary Rodham Clinton Library and Learning Center.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, for the Arkansas Declaration of Learning project, which will enable 28 Arkansas teachers and school librarians to develop lesson plans using historic objects, works of art and primary source materials from Crystal Bridges, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms.
Lee Street Community Center, to establish a park and exhibit memorializing the lives lost in the 1919 race riot in Elaine, Arkansas.
UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture, to host the Teaching a Web of Arkansas History workshop for museums, libraries, archives and secondary educational institutions. Participants will receive instruction from a professional archivist to create we-based exhibits with historical images.
Walton Arts Center, to support the touring production of Digging Up Arkansas, a play that teaches elementary school children about Arkansas history through the story of two Depression-era Works Progress Administration workers as they organize and display Arkansas history artifacts in preparation for a visit from President Roosevelt.