Enfield Shaker Museum Awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
Enfield Shaker Museum is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $49,943 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities through funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of March 11, 2021.
The grant will support the Museum’s project to create digital and physical exhibitions exploring Shaker religious tenets and their social manifestations as communalism, gender and racial equality, and pacifism, as well as their reification in the Shakers’ material culture and built environment and shaping of the natural environment. These exhibitions are being prepared to commemorate in 2024 the 250th anniversary of the arrival of Shakerism in what would become the United States.
The Museum’s award is part of the $40 million in American Rescue Plan Act-funded grants to support 292 museums, libraries, and historical societies across the nation, which the NEH announced in a press release today. The Museum’s grant is one of two given to cultural institutions in New Hampshire.
“We thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for this award,” said Carolyn Maloney, Interim President of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “This honor acknowledges Enfield Shaker Museum’s commitment to humanities-based research and outreach and furthers our work to preserve and share the Enfield Shakers’ cultural legacy. The staff of the Enfield Shaker Museum is very excited and thankful for this grant and eager to work on this project over the next year.”
“Museums across the nation and throughout the world are still being challenged by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Shirley Wajda, the Museum’s Executive Director. “The pandemic has brought into fine focus the nation’s commitment to and continuing struggle to create a more perfect Union. As we approach the nation’s 250th anniversary, this year-long grant allows us to focus forward and contribute to Americans’ discussions of democracy and equality.”
The National Endowment for the Humanities’ announcement may be read here: https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-awards-878-million-arp-relief-funding
About the National Endowment for the Humanities
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.
About Enfield Shaker Museum
Enfield Shaker Museum is a community-focused, member-driven, non-profit educational institution dedicated to interpreting and preserving the history of the Shakers in Enfield, New Hampshire. Since 1986, the Museum has educated audiences about the Shakers and their legacy through tours, exhibitions, lectures, hands-on learning, craft demonstrations, and an annual Spring Shaker Forum. Its board and staff members, volunteers, and other friends work together to incorporate Shaker ideals of order, organization, frugality, simplicity, and community in its operations. More information is available at shakermuseum.org.
Enfield Shaker Museum Thanks the National Endowment for the Humanities
The exhibit and this web resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the exhibit and this web resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.