Nashville Sites and Nashville Queer History Receive $25,000 From National Trust for Historic Preservation to Help Tell the Full American Story
NASHVILLE SITES AND NASHVILLE QUEER HISTORY RECEIVE $25,000 FROM NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION TO HELP TELL THE FULL AMERICAN STORY
$2.5 MILLION FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES THROUGH THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kayleigh Whitman
CONTACT: info@nashvillesites.org
Nashville, TN– At a news conference today, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Telling the Full History Preservation Fund announced its award of $25,000 to Nashville Sites and Nashville Queer History. The grant is one of 80 given to select organizations nationwide with projects that helped preserve, interpret, and activate historic places to tell the stories ofcunderrepresented groups in our nation.
Nashville Sites and Nashville Queer History have a common goal of making scholarly information easily accessible to the public. Nashville Sites does this through walking and driving tours, Nashville Queer History through their online archive. This funding will allow the two programs to identify significant LGBTQ+ sites across Nashville, add those sites to the Nashville Queer History database, create a Nashville Sites driving tour, and host a symposium launching the tour while also highlighting the scholars and community members who created the project.
“Since launching in November 2019, Nashville Sites has created over 30 walking and driving tour covering areas of Nashville’s history from the Civil War to Civil Rights, architecture and art to music and education,” said Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel, Executive Director for Nashville Sites. “We are so pleased to be able to continue expanding our tour offerings, and to focus on an area of Nashville’s history that is often overlooked. We are especially grateful to work with additional community partners including the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation and Albert Gore Research Center, Vanderbilt University Libraries, Just Us at Oasis Center, and the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce as we begin this year-long project.”
The grant was made possible through a one-time $2.5 million grant program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021.
“The Telling the Full History Preservation Fund represents the largest number of grants given through a single program at the National Trust,” said Katherine Malone-France, Chief Preservation Officer. “These 80 projects are driven by many dedicated volunteers, staff, and experts, all seeking to expand how we compose the American narrative. We are grateful for the work that they do on the ground and in their communities to reveal, remember, celebrate and illuminate these stories through these extraordinary places,” she continued.
Nashville Sites is a program of the Metropolitan Historical Commission Foundation, an organization whose mission is to assist the Metro Historical Commission in its efforts to identify, protect, study and interpret the rich history of Nashville. Nashville Queer History is a community partner of the MTSU Center for Historic Preservation, whose mission is to identify, preserve, interpret, and sensitively promote and sustain historic environments through “best practices” programs and activities in academic scholarship, field work, and experiential learning. For more information go to nashvillesites.org and nashvillequeerhistory.org
To see the full list of grantees, go to savingplaces.org/neh-telling-full-history.
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THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
The National Trust, a 501(c)(3) organization, is a privately funded nonprofit chartered by Congress in 1949 to protect the nation’s historic places. Today, the organization is deeply committed to utilizing preservation as a tool to advance justice and equity for all Americans. We are guided by four strategic priorities: Saving America’s Historic Sites, Telling the Full American Story, Building Stronger Communities, and Investing in Preservation’s Future. The National Trust for Historic Preservation was recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities with the National Humanities Medal in 2001.
THE TELLING THE FULL HISTORY PRESERVATION FUND
The Telling the Full History Preservation Fund restores and supports the core activities of humanities-based organizations as they recover from the pandemic and utilize historic places as catalysts for a more just and equitable society. Due to their power as primary sources, historic places advance our quest for a more perfect union by combining individual experience inside the American story with relevant, innovative humanities scholarship. It emphasizes telling the full, true story of historic places to gain components critical to the historic record, to help complete the humanities infrastructure of the nation, and to reimagine history in ways that reflect a comprehensive view of American identity. To learn more about the Telling the Full History Preservation Fund, go to savingplaces.org/neh-telling-full-history
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. Because democracy demands wisdom, NEH serves and strengthens our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The Endowment accomplishes this mission by awarding grants for top-rated proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this press release do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
