Press Release
March 4, 2021
Contact: Nicole Harvey
Grants Administrator, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-5202
nharvey@okhistory.org
www.okhistory.org/grants
Chickasha Public Library and Grady County Historical Society Awarded Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grants
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Historical Society is proud to announce that the Chickasha Public Library and the Grady County Historical Society have been awarded grants through the Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program.
“Both the Chickasha Public Library and the Grady County Historical Society are valued organizations in our community,” said Sen. Lonnie Paxton, Tuttle. “This grant will allow these organizations to further their goals of preserving and sharing the rich history of Grady County.”
The Chickasha Public Library has been awarded $20,000 that will fund the digitization of 473 microfilm rolls containing Chickasha newspaper records from 1923–2018. This grant will fund the cost of digitizing the microfilm so that it can be hosted on The Gateway to Oklahoma History for public access. This will complete the online, narrative record of Chickasha's history and will ensure that the information is preserved in a format that is both user-friendly and accessible to the public.
“This grant provides a wonderful opportunity for the Chickasha Public Library to digitize and share Chickasha newspaper records through The Gateway to Oklahoma History, thereby ensuring that they will be preserved in a permanent and widely accessible format,” said Library Assistant Michelle Skinner.
The Grady County Historical Society has been awarded $4,000 that will fund the processing of two new collections: the Dean Schif Collection, which is mainly comprised of Rock Island Railroad items, and the collection of items that arrived during the months of lockdown as community members were home and cleaning out their houses. Funds will help purchase storage cabinets and archival boxes to allow the society to properly process and store the new collections.
“The grant from the Oklahoma Historical Society provides the opportunity for the Grady County Museum to acquire a collection of Rock Island Railroad memorabilia and to conserve the multiple donations received as a result of patrons’ ‘house cleaning’ during the past year,” said Director Pat Cunningham.
A total of just over $460,000 in grant funds will be distributed, with projects ranging from collections care and exhibit development to strategic planning and educational programming. “This is only the second year for this grant program. As organizations wrap up their grant projects from last year and as we see the quality of the applications that came in for this grant cycle, it is clear that there is a strong need for this type of grant program,” said Nicole Harvey, OHS grants administrator.
The Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program is a grants-in-aid program offered by the Oklahoma Historical Society with a goal of encouraging the collection, preservation and sharing of Oklahoma history at the grassroots level in all parts of the state. Open to tribal and municipal governments and not-for-profit historical organizations located in Oklahoma and registered with the Oklahoma secretary of state, this grants program offers funding ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 for projects focused on collections, exhibits and programming. Applications for this annual program open in the fall and award announcements are made in January. For more information visit www.okhistory.org/grants.
The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
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