Press Release
March 28, 2023
Contact: Nicole Harvey
Director of Strategic Initiatives, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-5202
nicole.harvey@history.ok.gov
www.okhistory.org/grants
Hooker Historical Society Awarded Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is proud to announce that the Hooker Historical Society has been awarded a grant through the Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program.
“Congratulations to the Hooker Historical Society on receiving this grant award,” said Sen. Casey Murdock, Felt. “I look forward to seeing these historic images and am proud that a selection of those images featuring the Oklahoma Panhandle will be placed online for public access.”
“I am so pleased that the Hooker Historical Society has received this grant,” said Rep. Kenton Patzkowsky, Balko. “Hooker, OK, has a deep history and much to be proud of. This program is so important in preserving our state’s history, and I am a big supporter of keeping our history alive.”
Hooker Historical Society received $20,000 for a project titled “Alice Hacker Negative Archive,” which will fund a project to catalog and digitize a collection of photographs taken in and around Hooker by professional photographer Alice Hacker. The project will also include placing 50 images on The Gateway to Oklahoma History. The images will be utilized in the upcoming volume five of the Hooker History Book. They will also form a display for the organization’s annual meeting with outreach to family members with relatives in the collection.
“The Hooker Historical Society is elated to receive the notification of grant monies awarded through the Oklahoma Heritage Preservation to our organization,” said Brenda Osborn, board president. “We look forward to preserving Alice Hacker’s negatives and photo collection of the families, schools and surrounding communities. This grant money will help our efforts as a keeper of history.”
The OHS will distribute over $575,000 in grant funds, with projects ranging from collections care and strategic planning to exhibit development and educational programming.
“These grant funds continue to empower local communities to collect, preserve and share their history for future generations of Oklahomans with over 150 projects funded to date,” said Nicole Harvey, director of strategic initiatives and grants administrator for the OHS.
The Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program is a grants-in-aid program offered by the Oklahoma Historical Society to encourage 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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