Sample Grants

Striving to Teach the Children: African-American Education in Haywood County
was a public research project sponsored by Tennessee State University. Haywood County community volunteers researched the efforts of the local African-American community to educate its children over a 100-year period. The research findings were used to prepare an exhibit examining the role of the community in organizing and maintaining educational institutions and the impact of those institutions on the parents, children, teachers and communities.
Eden of the West: The Development of Upper South Culture in Tennessee and Kentucky, 1750-1850
The Tennessee Historical Society developed this reading and discussion project, held at four public libraries in Middle Tennessee, to examine the historical development of a distinctive Upper South culture in Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky. The project reader contained primary documents organized by four themes: the land and its use; peoples and their migration; politics; and tradition and culture. Voices of Native Americans, women, African-Americans, and plain folk are represented in the reader alongside well-known leaders such as Andrew Jackson, David Crockett, and Henry Clay.
The Memphis/Shelby County Public Library received a grant
for its work with a comprehensive collection of "Memphis Music," a unique style blending country, boogie, blues, rock and gospel, which has impacted popular music since 1950. The grant helped pay honoraria and travel for humanities scholars to assist in the development of a mission statement and strategic plan that is used to guide the long term development of this collection. This strategic planning became the core of a proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which awarded the library $300,000 to develop the collection.
The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art
developed audio tours of its permanent collection and special exhibitions to increase accessibility for adults, children, and Spanish-speaking visitors. These multi-disciplinary tours use art history and criticism, literature, music, world history, and local history to place the artworks on display in a larger context and create a stimulating interpretive experience for all visitors.

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