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Idaho Humanities Council Awards 22 Grants at February MeetingThe Idaho Humanities Council awarded $66,381 in grants to organizations and individuals at its most recent board meeting in Post Falls. The grant awards will support 22 public humanities projects, and curriculum projects by three public school teachers. Eight projects focus on topics exploring Idaho and American history and culture and are funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities "We the People" program, and three focus on the Lewis and Clark legacy and are funded through a grant from the Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee. The following projects were funded: Major and Mini Grants: The Magic Valley Arts Council (Twin Falls) was awarded $1,000 to launch a Brown Bag Lecture Series. The grant funds will help cover two guest speakers, College of Southern Idaho Russ Tremayne speaking on the history of the Twin Falls Canal Company, and novelist Kelley Florence Jones speaking about the use of historical events in fiction. The lecture series also will include three speakers from the IHC Speakers Bureau: historian Arthur Hart, Basque history scholar John Bieter, and Japanese internment camp historian Robert Sims. Carolyn White is the project director. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe (Plummer) received $1,984 to support a Cultural Conference for Native American men, focusing on a number of cultural sustainability issues, including wellness, traditional arts and crafts, music and dance, language preservation, spiritual values, and justice. The conference will include native craftsmen, spiritual leaders, tribal historians and elders. Jon Skwanqhqn is the project director. Boise State University Department of Philosophy (Boise) received $2,000 to help fund a public forum as part of the 10th Annual Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference to be held in Boise. The award will help bring in guest speaker John Hawthorne, Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at Oxford University. His public lecture is tentatively titled "What Can Academic Philosophy Offer the Humanities in the 21st Century?" Andrew Cortens is the project director. The Idaho Association of Museums (Boise) was awarded $981 to support expenses for guest speaker Alice Parman to attend the Idaho Association of Museums annual conference in Pocatello in April. Parman is an assistant professor with the Arts and Administration Program at the University of Oregon and a consultant on museum exhibit planning and interpretation. She will lead two sessions focusing on interpretation and outreach. Mary Reed is the project director. Priest Lake State Park (Coolin) received $1,500 to
develop an interpretive exhibit and record oral histories to help
preserve the history of logging in north Idaho. The park constructed
a replica of an early-20th century log flume, and plans to use artifacts
preserved from the original log flume in the interpretive exhibit.
They also will collect oral histories from the aging loggers in the
area. Volunteer guides will help park visitors understand the history
of logging as they view the log flume, exhibit and oral histories.
Faith Berry is the project director. The Idaho Botanical Garden (Boise) received $2,635 to host a lecture series from June through August 2007 and an exhibit interpreting the story of the 1907 William "Big Bill" Haywood trial for the murder of Governor Frank Steunenberg. The IBG will host speakers on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, early Idaho mining history, the history of the Basques in Idaho, the history of Boise foothills landmarks and landscapes, and four presentations on the 100th anniversary of the Haywood trial and the importance of related materials in the Idaho State Historical Society Archives and Research Library. Elizabeth Dickey is the project director. Sun Valley Center for the Arts (Sun Valley) received $4,000 to help bring political essayist and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich to Idaho for a public lecture on June 21 as part of a three-month project designed to promote civic dialogue about the issues of greed and wealth in American society. The project will include exhibits, films, and lectures from May 25-July 28, 2007. Ehrenreich is the author of thirteen books, including Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America. Britt Udesen is the project director. The Historical Museum of St. Gertrude's Monastery (Cottonwood) received $3,982 to conduct an oral history project centering on Monastery foodways. The importance of preserving the incredible history of foodways at the Monastery became evident during the programs complementing the Smithsonian exhibit Key Ingredients: America by Food that was displayed at the museum last summer. Susan Swetnam, Idaho State University English Professor, will record oral history interviews with many of the nuns in residence. The interviews will be archived at the Museum of St. Gertrude and the Idaho Historical Society Oral History Center. Some of the oral histories also will be transcribed and Swetnam will prepare written summaries of each. Swetnam is the project director. Clayton Area Historical Association (Clayton) was awarded $3,800 to support development of interpretive exhibits about the history of this central Idaho mining area. The museum is in an old mining company store built in 1880. The planners will develop interpretive exhibits displaying original artifacts and photographs to portray the history of the area. Clayton is on scenic Highway 75 and planners hope to attract many visitors traveling that route. Jolene Ogden is the project director. The Trailing of the Sheep Festival (Ketchum) received $6,150 to support the ninth annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival. The festival features a weekend of music, storytelling, exhibits, and the running of 1,500 sheep down the Main Street of Ketchum. Each year's theme highlights a different ethnic group or culture involved in sheep ranching. The 2007 theme will explore the Peruvian experience and will feature two key scholars, Tony Yapias, Utah State University, and Armando Solorzano, University of Utah. The scholars will lead discussion of the Peruvian immigrant experience and will facilitate storytelling sessions with six sheepherders/ranchers. Linnea Collins is the project director. Larsen-Sant Library (Preston) was awarded $3,000 to help collect historical photographs, digitize and catalogue them, and create a local history center. Phase I of the collection will focus on Franklin County History, the 1863 Bear River Massacre, and information on the settlement of Franklin, Idaho's oldest settled town. The collection will include local newspapers, photographs, maps, school district records, and oral histories of local veterans. A public program will be held to introduce the center and its availability. Steven and Myrna Fuller are the project directors. Idaho Public Television (Statewide) was awarded $5,000 for a video documentary titled "Trial of the Century," which will explore the assassination of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg in 1905 and the subsequent trial in Boise in 1907 of radical labor organizer William "Big Bill" Haywood. The trial involved famous defense attorney Clarence Darrow, prosecution attorneys William Borah and James Hawley, and was followed in newspapers throughout the U.S. The documentary will air in the fall of 2007. Bruce Reichert is the project director. The Ernest Hemingway Festival (Sun Valley) received $5,000 to help support the third annual Ernest Hemingway Festival in Ketchum. The 2007 theme is "Hemingway and Paris," and will feature a screening of a new Hemingway documentary by Mariel Hemingway, based on her grandfather's posthumously published memoir A Movable Feast about his early years in Paris. The festival will also include public lectures by major Hemingway scholars, including Louisiana State University Professor J. Gerald Kennedy, Boise State University Professor Rena Sanderson, Hemingway in Paris author Noel Riley Fitch, and Hemingway Review editor Susan Beegel. Carrie Westergard is the project director. The Foundation for Self-taught American Artists (Philadelphia, PA) received $4,850 to help produce a documentary film about Idaho "outsider" artist James Castle, entitled The World Outside: The Life and Art of James Castle. Castle was born deaf and mute in Garden Valley (Boise County) in 1899. Since his death in 1977, his artwork has gained worldwide recognition. The film will include interviews of art historians and family members in Boise and New York City. The documentary will be screened in Philadelphia, New York, and Boise, entered into film festivals, and presented on public television. Molly Dougherty is the project director. Lewis-Clark State College (Lewiston) was awarded $5,000 to support its regional 18-member speakers bureau. The bureau was organized to help commemorate the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial, and all presentations deal with aspects of the expedition and Nez Perce history and culture. The speakers will be available to schools and organizations in five counties in north Idaho. Deborah Snyder is the project director. The Cabin (former Log Cabin Literary Center, Boise) was awarded $3,500 to support public events complementing Boise's "Big Read" program. The project involves the community in reading the same book and attending discussions, films, workshops, exhibits, and other accompanying programs. The Cabin will host lectures and panel discussions by Hemingway Review editor Susan Beegel, author and former Hemingway secretary Valerie Hemingway, and David Blampied, an actor portraying Hemingway in a one-act, one-man play. Michelle Coleman is the project director. Idaho State University (Pocatello) received $5,000 to help support a conference called "Crossing Borders: The Politics of Language and Identity." The conference will explore issues of immigrants and receiving nations, including language and cultural identity struggles. The grant will support presentations by keynote speaker Ruben Martinez, author of several books, including On the Immigrant Trail, The New Americans, and The Other Side: Notes from the New L.A., Mexico City, and Beyond. James Fogelquist is the project director. The Idaho Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (Boise) was awarded $2,000 to explore the development of a major traveling exhibit of photographs, letters, documents, posters, and original artifacts related to Abraham Lincoln and the formation of the Idaho Territory in 1863. Boise attorney David Leroy, chair the commission, is an avid collector of Lincoln/Idaho memorabilia. He also has written about and lectured about the Lincoln/Idaho story. Working with U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Leroy also hopes to acquire on loan several original key items from the National Archives to add to the exhibit. The award will enable the commission to begin the preliminary exhibit design, with plans to begin touring prior to the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial year. Teacher Incentive Grants: James See, Mullan High School (Mullan), received $1,000 to develop curriculum and an activity kit focused on the Great Fire of 1910 and the story of firefighter Edward Pulaski. The 1910 fire was one of the largest forest fires in U.S. history, and Pulaski was credited with saving a number of firefighters by taking refuge in a mine until a firestorm passed. The kit will include suggested classroom activities, copies of interpretive Pulaski trail signs, videos of the trail, lesson plans, and the book Flames and Courage: Saga of the 1910 Fires. Bonnie Warne, South Fremont High School (Saint Anthony), was awarded $1,000 to support a guest author at the third annual Upper Valley Young Author's Conference held in eastern Idaho. The conference author will present a keynote address and participate in sessions with teachers and students focusing on writing techniques and related topics. April J. Niemela, Highland Junior-Senior High School (Craigmont), received $1,000 to support the guest author at the Northwest Inland Writing Project (NIWP), a young writer's conference held in north Idaho. The NIWP collaborates with the Upper Valley Young Author's Conference (see above) to bring the same author to Idaho for both conferences. The Next Deadline for Grants: The next deadline for Idaho Humanities Council grant proposals is September 15, 2007; however, IHC staff strongly recommends that prospective applicants contact staff to discuss their project ideas before writing their grants. Applicants are also encouraged to submit a rough draft of their proposals for staff critique by mid-August 2007. GRANT GUIDELINES AND APPLICATION FORMS AS WELL AS INFORMATION ABOUT IHC GRANTS AND ACTIVITIES ARE AVAILABLE HERE - OR BY CALLING 208-345-5346. |
