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
The Friends of the Coleman Foundation Awarded Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) is proud to announce that The Friends of the Coleman Foundation has been awarded a grant through the Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program.
“It says something important about the quality of the organizations in Senate District 1 that three received grants,” said Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, Adair. “History preservation is important, so we do not lose the true story that we need to pass on to future generations.”
“I’m thankful to the Oklahoma Historical Society for this grant funding that will help the Friends of the Coleman Foundation preserve their important historical documents,” said Rep. Steve Bashore, Miami. “Our House district will be culturally richer for these resources.”
The Friends of the Coleman Foundation received $18,000 for a project titled “Preserving the Past for Future Generations,” which will help fund archival collections care for several thousand existing items including playbills, photographs, newspaper articles, letters, information files and artifacts. This will preserve them from deterioration, vandalism and fire by placing the paper documents in acid-free file folders/boxes and storing all items in fireproof cabinets.
“The Friends of the Coleman Foundation is grateful to the Oklahoma Historical Society for this grant, which will enable us to begin to protect and preserve for future generations the documents and artifacts that tell the history of the Coleman Theatre,” said Carole White, president. “The Coleman is the premier vaudeville theatre of Oklahoma, dating back to 1929, and these fragile documents and artifacts are irreplaceable. The Coleman is also a ‘living building,’ still in active use by the citizens of Miami and Ottawa County, who are so happy to share our story with people all over our state as well as our country!”
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 okhistory.org.
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