Interpretive Grant Overview

Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area (FFNHA) invites partner organizations to apply for Interpretive Grants. FFNHA awards small grants ($500-$1,500) and large grants ($1,501-$5,000) for projects that interpret their site’s story and connects it to the heritage area’s rich history. Grants will be awarded for projects aligned with the goals of Freedom’s Frontier, and one or more of these significant themes: Shaping the Frontier, Border War, Enduring Struggles for Freedom. Successful grants will be rooted in a context involving historic events in the heritage area that have broad regional or national impact

Interpretive Grant Review Committee

Grant Review Committee members are selected by the Advisory Committee in cooperation with staff. The committee is made up of a minimum of five members, with at least 25% being from each state. At least one member should represent historical societies and museums; at least one should represent convention & visitors bureaus or destination management organizations; at least one should represent battlefields, historic markers or trails. Committee members are selected because of their expertise in a program area, their knowledge of the heritage area and ability to make objective recommendations on grant funding. The committee reviews grant applications and ensure that grants awarded comply with FFNHA themes, mission and other grant guidelines.

Interpretive Grant Awards Master List

February 2012 Clinton Lake: The Clinton Lake Historical Society Incorporated (Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum) hosted a historical sites tour of Wakarusa Valley area. The sites have Civil War and significance. Grant Request: $1,354.00

Eudora Area Historical Society: Eudora Area Historical Society created programs to supplement the Smithsonian Institution’s The Way We Worked Traveling Exhibit. The project explored Eudora’s African American community from the late 19th Century to the present, focusing on the kinds of jobs recently freed slaves had and how the jobs of Eudora’s black population changed and/or improved over time. The exhibit also considered discrimination and other struggles the black population would likely have encountered in 19th Century Kansas. Grant Request: $1,250.00 Franklin County Historical Society: Native Neighbors from Franklin County’s Past reached out to tribes of the Native Americans who once lived in Franklin County as natives or emigrants before white settlement. These groups were invited to share their cultural and artistic heritage as well as their modern lives with Franklin County and area citizens. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Vernon County Historical Society: This interpretive exhibit relevant to the history of the Missouri/Kansas Border War Period incorporated visual, textual, and three-dimensional facets to create a dynamic audience experience by creating modern interpretive panels to replace older and less dynamic exhibits. While creating the new panels, project staff used suggestions outlined in the 2010 FFNHA Peer Location Review Report. The new interpretation engages the public to ask and answer common questions about the Border War period. Grant Request: $3,000.00 May 2012

Douglas County Historical Society/Watkins Community Museum of History: Watkins Museum staff created and tested a Pilot Educational Program for 3rd Graders and Family Groups Exploring the Development of Lawrence as a Frontier Community. Participants use primary source documents and reproduction artifacts to make connections about how Lawrence in the 1860-70s was alike and/or different from the city as it is today. The grant allowed for development and testing of the pilot program. Program activities build awareness of Lawrence’s founding story and the experiences of people who settled the frontier. The program supports Kansas education standards for 3rd grade. Grant Request: $1,475.00 The George Historic Cemetery Association, Inc: The George Historic Cemetery Heritage Park, on unused ground in the cemetery, commemorates the bravery of hundreds of Missouri families who suffered during the Civil War. The park area has wild flowers. Along a Heritage Trail, to be cut through the field of flowers, are signs that tell of the “Strife in Civil War Missouri,” a little-known story. In the burial grounds, small markers show cell phone tour sites. Recordings for the cell phone tours will be taped. Along the Heritage Trail, a series of ten signs, 2’X3’, describe the major happenings during Civil War days in Western Missouri. Monies from the FFNHA paid for graphic design and art on the signs along the Heritage Trail; and a year of the cell phone provider’s annual fee plus cost of necessary signage for the cell phone “stops” along the trail. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Mount Mora Cemetery Preservation & Restoration Association: Mount Mora Cemetery, established in 1851, is one of the oldest operating cemeteries in Saint Joseph, MO. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is the final resting place for many local, state, and national people with historic ties to the Great Westward Movement and the Border and Civil Wars. The 15-minute Mount Mora Cemetery Video created for Mount Mora Cemetery introduces visitors to the cemetery and its importance as a historical site, and provides brief biographies on several people buried there; people who made an impact on Saint Joseph, Northwest Missouri, and FFNHA, with a heavy emphasis on the FFNHA theme of Shaping the Frontier, from the 1840s to 1900. This period also includes the Missouri-Kansas Border War, another FFNHA theme. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Royal Valley Middle School: In 2002 the Kansas Legislature passed House Bill 2614, which calls for the placing of a 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Mural in the Kansas State House. The students of Royal Valley Middle School, as part of their continuing effort to preserve local and state history, researched and developed the concept for this mural, following guidelines set out by the Kansas Capitol Preservation Committee. The project includes four concept panels for presentation and promotion of the mural. The Capitol Preservation Committee’s reviewed the project. In the final phase, the mural could be painted in the Kansas State Capitol Visitor Center. state. Grant Request: $1,489.11

Vernon County Historical Society: To honor the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the Vernon County Historical Society created New Exhibits, by renovating its current exhibits regarding the Missouri/Kansas Border War and Civil War Periods. The rejuvenated exhibits incorporate text, artifacts, images, and technology to create a multi-faceted and dynamic experience for a diverse audience. Modern interpretive panels replaced older exhibits and included modern technology. While creating the new panels, project staff used suggestions outlined in the 2010 FFNHA Peer Location Review Report. The new exhibits engage the public by asking and answering common questions about the Border War. Grant Request: $4,482.50 Westport Historical Society: Restoration of the second floor of the 1870 addition to the 1855 Harris-Kearney House Museum included two exhibit rooms: a small exhibit gallery and a large exhibit gallery. Both rooms display national and local exhibits as well as traveling exhibits from FFNHA partners and other groups with stories related to the struggles for freedom in 19th century Missouri and the United States. A third room, the bedroom of Hattie Dresdon Kearney, was restored and her story of slave to freed slave to family member is told. With the restoration of these rooms, the 1855 Harris- Kearney House can host many, varied exhibits and is the only museum in the area to interpret the issues of slavery, before, during and after the . Grant funds covered the reinterpretation of these rooms. Two bathrooms and some interior walls were demolished. Wood floors and brick walls were refurbished. Room were painted. Door and window molding was replaced. Exhibit lighting, display cases, and audio-visual equipment was installed. Period correct bedroom furniture and accessories for Hattie’s room were purchased. Grant Request: $5,000

August 2012 Historical Preservation Partnership of Lyndon, Inc. (HPPL): The Wells P. Bailey House dates to at least 1870, and is located in the Lyndon City Park. In the mid-1800s, a Sac & Fox Indian reservation covered most of Osage County, and the house originally set at the site of a Fox village. Once thought to have been built by the U.S. Government for the Indians, recent architectural studies and restoration efforts suggest that the house was built by Bailey, a white settler, using logs obtained from the deserted Indian houses. HPPL developed a website and interpretive video to tell the story of the Bailey House. The first phase of restoration for the Bailey House was completed in fall 2012, and included the overall stabilization of the structure. While the grounds are always open to the public, personnel is frequently not available to open the house to visitors, except by appointment. A number of people do stop to visit the house each month. To provide information and interpret the Bailey House, HPPL developed a website and a short video to be viewed on the website or downloaded remotely by way of a QR Code. Grant Request: $4,949.80

Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site: This grant will fund research, design, fabrication and installation of a five-panel exhibit within the foyer of the original farmhouse, built by the Mahaffie family of Olathe in 1865. The five panels will explore a central theme of Changes; Changes for the Mahaffies family, changes structurally to the farmhouse, and changes in the farm (Freedom’s Frontier theme: Shaping the Frontier) as well as changes within the community (Freedom’s Frontier theme: Missouri/Kansas Border Wars). Unlike the general orientation exhibit in the Mahaffie Heritage Center (Visitor Center) this exhibit specifically presents the changes the Mahaffie family endured while they lived in Olathe. Grant Request: $4,963.00

Monticello Community Historical Society (MCHS): The Monticello Community Historical Society located in the Monticello Historical Station at Floyd Cline Hall requested funding for development and printing of Driving/Cycling Tour Map and Brochure of Historic Sites in Monticello Township, Kansas. Within the town-site of Monticello, KS and the area of the former Monticello Township are many historic sites that work together to form a tapestry of stories, events, and interactions. This tapestry is significant to the local history, certainly, but also the development of the western frontier and the state of Kansas. Moreover, such national themes as “The Enduring Struggle for Freedom” find its expression in the sites here and the stories told. For area residents, new and old alike, this tour gives them a greater sense of place. Grant Request: $3,225.00 December 2012 Baxter Springs Heritage Center & Museum: The Battle and Massacre of Baxter Springs video project was sponsored by Baxter Springs, Kansas, Historical Society and the Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum. The project sought to enhance public awareness of this event which occurred October 6, 1863. The severity and heinous nature of Quantrill’s attack on Ft. Blair, defended by the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry, and the ensuing massacre of General Blunt’s command make this a worthy subject of a documentary. Combined, these two events of that day create a story that would significantly add to the mission of the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area. A 15-minute video for the Baxter Springs Historical Society introduces the viewer to the story of the Battle and Massacre of Baxter Springs, Kansas. It creates an awareness of the Civil War events that occurred on the Western Front. Only three Civil War battle sites are recognized in Kansas. One of those sites is Baxter Springs. Significantly, Wm. Quantrill was the leader in two of the events, the sacking of Lawrence in August, 1863, and the attack on Baxter Springs in October of the same year. The video is available for viewing on new, interactive kiosk devices at the Baxter Springs Heritage Center and Museum. The video was created for release in advance of the sesquicentennial of the Battle and Massacre of Baxter Springs, commemorated October 5-6, 2013. The encampment consisted of Union and Southern units presenting living history interpretations of the Civil War. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Black Jack Battlefield & Nature Park: The Black Jack Battlefield & Nature Park Self-guided Tour Brochure was a new, full color, self-guided tour brochure. The brochure enabled visitors to learn about the struggles for freedom in eastern Kansas. Using the brochure, visitors are directed to various stops on the battlefield property. The historical events that took place at each stop are described in the brochure. Visitors with a smart phone or tablet can scan QR codes in the brochure and view video that corresponds to the tour stop, and provides historical context. The same QR code technology was incorporated into the brochure to provide the ability to donate and to sign a guest book. Grant Request: $3,000.00 Cass County Historical Society: The Stern Visitations of War Cass County’s War Years 1854- 1865 complements the FFNHA Mission Statement as it details and explores the struggles which the Civil War imposed on all citizens of Cass County: black and white, wealthy and poor, old and young, Union and Confederate. The war in Cass County was intensely personal and due to Order Number 11, particularly devastating to the women and children left to survive on their own. This exhibit tells residents’ stories in their own words with an ear to educating local residents and visitors to provide an authentic picture of those caught in the crossfires of war. Multiple perspectives are honored, and connections to multiple FFNHA sites are included. Grant Request: $4,877.00 Friends of the Frontier Army Museum, Inc.: Fort Leavenworth Frontier Army Museum Video Project enhances the visitor experience to the Museum with an introductory video highlighting the rich frontier heritage of Fort Leavenworth. The video covers the time period from 1804 to present. The 15-minute video for the Fort Leavenworth Frontier Army Museum introduces people to the Museum and spotlights the U.S. Army’s role in FFNHA themes. This video experience is offered to visitors (35,000 annually) entering the museum and may be used online, given as a gift to incoming Command and General Staff College (CGSC) students, at Fort Leavenworth Newcomers’ Briefings and on Fort Leavenworth’s Command Channel (Channel 2 on Fort Leavenworth). Grant Request: $5,000.00 Great Overland Station: The A Lesson of the Exodus: African-Americans Seek Freedom in Kansas exhibit interprets a significant episode in Kansas and African-American history and presents a basic outline history of the “.” These were African-Americans who fled the South in 1879-1880 and migrated to Kansas in search of political and economic freedom. Their story exemplifies the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area theme: “Enduring Struggles for Freedom.” The exhibit furthers the mission of Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area by including multiple perspectives and presenting diverse, interrelated, and nationally significant stories. The exhibit was designed for a broad public audience at the Great Overland Station. Lasting value was created by additional public presentations about the subject and sharing the exhibit as a traveling resource with other institutions in the heritage area. Grant Request: $3,000.00

Mid-West Educational Center, Inc. DBA Wonder Workshop Children’s Museum: The general public, school districts, universities & colleges will have an opportunity to experience hands-on history by visiting historical sites in Manhattan dating back to the time period between 1855 to 1880. At each site, there is a“Take a Stand:” Historic Cell Phone Tour of Manhattan, Kansas information panel. These interpretive panels included a telephone number with a code allowing participants to access the history of the site and the diverse people who established each one. Wonder Workshop produced a map of the locations. This is on the webpage along with a brochure handout. The history of early Manhattan shows and shares the multicultural, multiracial, intergenerational aspects of men and women working together to establish the town. All ages use cell phones, so what better way to share our common history than through the use of modern technology? American history is often taught as exclusively “white history”. Everyone wants and needs to know that their racially-diverse ancestors contributed to history in a positive light to have a sense of pride, and a concept of themselves as Kansan and American. Through this cell phone history tour, students of all ages can take pride in the sacrifices their ancestors made in Manhattan and Kansas. Grant Request: $4,790.00 Pony Express National Museum: The Pony Express National Museum’s Children’s Video project re- edited the museum’s existing introductory video for a school age level audience. In addition to the re-editing, a small piece was shot with a Johnny Fry re-enactor to highlight objects that were important to the Pony Express Riders. This remade video is shown to school groups attending the museum, and is given to school groups that were unable to see the video during their trip. Additionally, a short video trailer was placed on the museum’s website and YouTube. Grant Request: $4,840.00

February 2013

Gardner Historical Museum: The Civil War Expo brought a large group of re-enactors, artisans, storytellers and at least one scholar together in one place. The impact of this event was enhanced by having it during Gardner’s Festival of the Trails event, increasing its visibility and participation by local and regional citizens. The Civil War Expo and Cell Phone Application created with the grant was utilized in publishing information about the event to cell phone users as well as making users aware of Settling the Frontier, Border War, and Enduring Struggles for Freedom stories through featuring the museum exhibits which interpret these stories. The cell phone tour’s lasting impact on the community is allowing a younger generation additional resources to tour the Gardner Museum. This allows the museum to reach a wider audience and interpret stories that discuss the themes of Freedom’s Frontier. Grant Request: $1,150.00 Marla Quilts, Inc.: This project commemorated Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence through a community-based project that resulted in an artistic, three-dimensional visual representation of the Raid and the Enduring Struggles for Freedom within Lawrence that followed. Quantrill’s Raid Story Quilt: The Enduring Struggle for Freedom in Lawrence is an 83-inch by 83- inch Story Quilt accompanied by additional media that recorded and interpreted the struggle for freedom in Lawrence. This project looked at Quantrill’s Raid and the Civil War in Lawrence through a new lens. It tied the legacy of the Civil War through the Civil Rights struggle and the enduring struggle for freedom that continues to this day. Grant Request: $5,000.00

May 2013 Fort Scott National Historic Site: A temporary 35th Anniversary Temporary Exhibit with nine 24” x 36” posters was mounted on foam core and placed on easels. Text and photos/illustrations, highlighted changes to the site on its journey from Fort Scott Historical Park to Fort Scott National Historic Site. Besides highlighting site history, which fulfilled the primary FFNHA themes, the exhibit shows how local citizens can effect change. Most notable is how the previously ignored story of enlisting free and formerly enslaved African American refugees into the first black unit organized by a Northern state, and the first such unit to participate in combat, led to national historic designations. The recent certification as an Underground Railroad site further explains the enduring struggle for freedom at FSNHS. But the local community needs to understand how their predecessors won the recognition battle. Grant Request: $491.50

The Territorial Capital Museum and Lecompton Historical Society: The museum requested fund for Digitization/Interpretation/Exhibition Project of the Lecompton Historical Society’s Gieseman Territorial Kansas Map Collection. In this project, 25 maps were digitizied and copied. Some maps were framed and exhibited with interpretive signage. The maps not displayed are available for study and/or special exhibition. Having the maps available for viewing and having them interpreted improved the visitor experience at the Territorial Capital Museum, both in-person and by internet access. Grant Request: $2,500.00

Lowell Milken Center: This project developed three exhibits with students from various counties in the area. These three exhibits will feature the struggle for freedom and equality of Jewish citizens from the 19th century, Native Americans from the early 19th century and from the 20th century. The Enduring Struggles For Freedom in Bourbon County, Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri: Jewish, Native and African American Exhibits are featured in the center’s expanding outreach for tourism. The number of tourists to the exhibit area has grown every year of the center’s six-year existence. The area’s rich history adds to the increasing scope of high quality exhibits. Grant Request: $5,000.00 St. Joseph Museums, Inc.: St. Joseph Museums, Inc. created a Video Education and Marketing Project in cooperation with The American Countryside media group. The project featured three exhibits/sites in the St. Joseph Museums system that specifically affiliated with Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area themes. Interviews were conducted and those interviews were edited into six features (two for each exhibit/site). This project produced six radio features and three video features. Each video is approximately 90 seconds in length (the length is considered part of best practices for marketing) and is used to education visitors and promote these exhibits. These three videos are used in several ways both as a marketing and educational tool for the St. Joseph Museums. Grant Request: $4,000.00 December 2013 Marla Quilts, Inc.: Turkey Red, A Story Quilt Interpreting the Life of Maria Martin: Missouri Slave, Kansas Contraband interpreted a Civil War-era connection between Wayside Rest Plantation in Cass County, Missouri—a newly recognized Network to Freedom Underground Railroad site—and Lawrence, Kansas, through the story of Maria Martin, a woman enslaved at Wayside Rest who was brought as contraband to Lawrence during a raid by Jayhawkers. This project’s five story quilts interpret Maria’s story from her life on the plantation through her trip to Kansas. During the process of creating the quilts, interpretive talks were held on the story, its historical context, and on traditional methods of dying fabric and creating quilts that Maria—a known quilter and seamstress—would have used to create her quilts. This project unveiled a story that resulted from Marla’s previous grant from FFNHA. As a result of incorporating feedback from the review committee, Marla worked with Carol Bohl to learn about and represent the Missouri perspective in her Quantrill’s Raid story quilt. She, Carol, Carol Pettyman—the owner of Wayside Rest—and Judy Sweets uncovered the story of Maria and her life in Lawrence, which resulted in the successful application by Wayside Rest to the Network to Freedom, and the desire to tell Maria’s story. Grant Request: $5,000.00

St. Joseph Parks, Recreation & Civic Facilities/Friends of the Park/River City Development Committee: The St. Joseph Parks and Recreation Department with the Friends of the Park/River City Development Committee partnered with the St. Joseph Downtown Partnership to Paint the Town – Downtown Mural Project. They created and designed two murals depicting the city’s role in Western Migration and the American Civil War. The Western Migration Mural was the first, located on the south side of those buildings between 5th and 6th streets facing Edmond Street. The city rebuilt its parking lot directly in front of the proposed murals. The location of the Civil War mural was still under review at the time of this grant. This partnership engaged mural artist Sam Welty to paint these murals. Mr. Welty is well known for his public murals throughout the east coast. He went to great lengths to capture the spirit and adventure of the community’s unique historic past. The total cost for the Western Migration Murals was $125,000.00 with a proposed completion date of May 2014. Grant Request: $5,000.00

February 2014 Van Go, Inc.: Van Go, Inc., in partnership with the City of Lawrence, created a Rolling History Mural, depicting significant historical events, people, and geography. This 200 sq foot mural was designed and created at Van Go by Apprentice Artists, 20 at-risk teens who worked with teaching artists, staff, and volunteers after school for 8-weeks. This large-scale mural was digitally adapted as a ‘wrap’ and applied to a Lawrence bus. The bus runs a regular night route, but was designated for community outreach (visiting schools, community events, parades, etc.). A “rolling history” lesson, the eye-catching bus has had lasting and widespread impact on the community. Grant Request: $5,000.00

August 2014

Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau: We only have small bits and pieces of knowledge about Abe Burns and Jake Washington, despite their early works to assist in growing commerce in Lawrence Kansas. There is one well-known photograph of the two men, dated 1896, by Kansas Historical Society. However, there is so very much we do not know about them. Were they slaves? Were they born in Kansas? Did they have families? Where are their descendents? The Burns and Washington project required much research of death records, census, court records, cemetery plots, newspaper archives, church memberships, black historical society, and agricultural records. Abe Burns and Jake Washington: A Foundation for Black Freedom in Post Civil War Kansas (1865-1895) required the project director go into homes of those elders still living in the area whose ancestors may have known the men. The information gathered assisted in the creation of large display screens, a video and companion booklet to be used at other Freedom’s Frontier sites in Kansas and Missouri. The completed project helps others in understanding how new found freedoms were being utilized and how those freedoms helped individuals become productive, contributing citizens of their own communities. Grant Request: $4,000.00 The Monnett Battle of Westport Fund, Inc.: The Monnett Battle of Westport Fund, Inc. (“Monnett Fund”) sponsored a Battle of Westport Sesquicentennial Exhibition -Battle of Westport Visitor Center Museum Special Exhibit on October 23-26, 2014. As part of this observation, Monnett Fund produced a special exhibit in the visitor center containing a loaned collection of artifacts recovered from the adjacent battlefield on the Byram’s Ford site. These artifacts had only recently been rediscovered. The exhibit recombined portions of the existing materials with new items to illustrate the lives of the combatants and civilians who struggled for freedom in this decisive Civil War battle which marked the climax of the ten year war on the border. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Franklin County Historical Society, Inc: The area now called Franklin County, Kansas was once part of the Permanent Indian Frontier, an area designated as the new home of Indians to be removal from the East Coast, South and Great Lakes states. By chance, Kansas’ largest variety of removed Indian groups were settled in the area that became Franklin County—native Osages and Kanzas, Sac and Fox of the Mississippi, Munsee or Christian Indians, Swan Creek and Black River Chippewas, three bands of Ottawas—Roches de Boeuf, Blanchard’s Fork and Oquawanoxy’s Village--the Mission band of Pottawatomies, and the Illinois tribes—Peoria, Wea, Kaskaskia and Piankeshaw, and part of the Shawnee reserve and hunting areas. During the Civil War, thousands of other Union-supporting Indians from Indian Territory were also temporarily relocated there for their protection—Quapaws, Seneca-Shawnees, Cherokees, Euchees, and Creeks. Native Neighbors from Freedom’s Frontier’s Past was an educational program about Native American traditions, and their removal again, this time to Oklahoma. Groups represented at the event, showcased dancers, musicians, craftspeople, and displayed artifacts or materials. Visitors collected informational cards about each group’s experiences in Kansas and Missouri. Since this knowledge is vanishing in the face of modern lifestyles, a videographer documented the event and created visual exhibit material for Old Depot Museum and its websites. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Watkins Museum of History: The Journal Exhibit project was an expansion of a successful classroom activity into the permanent gallery at the Watkins Museum. The Maggie Herrington journal, kept by a Lawrence teenager in the 1860’s, introduces families to the daily lives of early Lawrence residents. The interactive gallery installation features a reusable family guide, reproduction artifacts and hands-on activities designed for use by family groups (and any group with children) to aid in the understanding of 19th century Lawrence. Grant Request: $4950.00 November 2014

Territorial Capital Museum: Increasingly, a museum’s first contact with visitors is from a website. Visitors wanting to find information on Lecompton historic sites are no exception. However, when a potential tourist visited the museum’s website, they were greeted with a website that was difficult to navigate and not current with the times. Through the years the museum had been fortunate to have had volunteers to create and maintain the website. The downfall to that was that volunteers can become busy with their own lives and can at times be unreachable or slow to respond. This project funded a New Website for Historic Lecompton and training to maintain it. Grant Request: $1,000.00

Wabaunsee County Historical Society: A 14-panel exhibition of photographs, artwork, maps and text that tell the stories of Freedom’s Frontier in Wabaunsee County. The exhibition panels reflect the themes of the heritage area telling the stories associated with the following subjects in present day Wabaunsee County:

 Shaping the Frontier: Early exploration, Bourgmont, 1724, Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, Fremont 1843 expedition, Mormon trail of 1854  Missouri/Kansas Border War: The Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony and their involvement and leadership within the Free-state cause.  Enduring Struggles for Freedom: The Shawnee and Potawatomi emigrant tribes, the Underground Railroad as documented by Charles Leonhardt and others, German emigration colonies. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Washburn University: Lincoln College (Washburn University) was founded in 1865 by the Association of Congregational Ministers and Churches of Kansas. The college was dedicated to freedom, and committed to providing an education to all – regardless of race or gender. This commitment caught the attention of Massachusetts industrialist Ichabod Washburn, an early benefactor and present namesake. In Mr. Washburn was embodied the principles and idealism that both founded the college and helped forge Kansas as a free state. To bring this story to life, and interpret it as part of a sesquicentennial, the university produced A short film about Ichabod Washburn. Grant Request: $4,729.00

February 2015 Fort Scott National Historic Site: This project for educators was a Freedom, Equality, and Democracy: Unsung Heroes from the Civil War to Civil Rights (Educators Workshop/Symposium) based on the theme of Civil War to Civil Rights. It focused on unsung heroes both locally and nationally that played a role in or benefitted from the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments which were passed 150 years ago. The workshop discussed the story of the struggle for equal rights through 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was passed in Congress fifty years ago. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site: This proposal defrayed approximately 15% of the cost of the Purchase of a Historic Mudwagon Stagecoach. This original, nineteenth century mudwagon-style stagecoach for use and exhibition at the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm Historic Site in Olathe, Kansas. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Marla Quilts, Inc: This grant was used for a presentation depicting the Living History of Maria Rogers Martin. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Quindaro-Project Director Gwendolyn Thomas: Polly’s Amazing Journey: The History of the Quindaro Settlement in Kansas City, Kansas, was first introduced in 2009. Printed in an innovative, tête bêche style, the first side is written for pre-school to first grade students, with the second side written for second to third graders. Interpretative illustrations created by a young partner further add to the appealing presentation of this period in history. Polly’s Amazing Journey has been well-received by schools, libraries, and most importantly, students- so much so that only a few copies remain. This grant provided funds for a new printing, which included side by side Spanish interpretation, and introduced students to this significant era. Grant Request: $5,000.00

May 2015 Atchison Area Chamber of Commerce: This proposal sought funding to develop Jesse Stone Mural on a highly visible building in downtown Atchison. Grant Request: $5,000 Lawrence Convention & Visitors Bureau: This project supported the commemoration of a historical one-day event related to the rich history of the FFNHA. It includied 6-8 standing educational display boards about the 150th Anniversary Commemoration of the Juneteenth Celebration. Grant Request: $1,500 Lecompton Historical Society: For this project, the historical society hired a KU Museums Studies graduate student for one semester of Artifact inventory for improving interpretation, enhancing exhibits and programming. The student inventoried and cataloged artifacts at the Territorial Capital Museum. Grant Request: $3,495 Louisburg Historical Society: This proposal developed traveling Traveling Retractable Banners to enable the Louisburg Historical Society to bring the story of Louisburg to the public throughout the city and county. Grant Request: $400

August 2015 Humboldt Historic Preservation Alliance: This proposal is to create a 9’ x 12’ Gerken Story mural painted on the east interior wall of the Orcutt Living History Backyard museum. The mural set the scene for the interpretation of the “Gerken Story”.Grant Request: $1489 Pony Express National Museum: As a pilot site in partnership with FFNHA for its Outdoor Interpretive Signage program, the Pony Express Museum will be developing two signs. One will be placed outside of the entrance to the museum and the second will be placed outside the entrance of the Pony School, a reproduction one room school house from the 1860s. Grant Request: $5000.00

November 2015 Atkins Johnson Farm and Museum: This proposal sought funding for a Visioning Workshop and consultant fee to facilitate the workshop and present findings. Grant Request: $5,000.00 The Curators of the University of Missouri on behalf of the University of Missouri- Kansas City, Center for Midwestern Studies: This proposal requested financial support for Wide Open Town: Kansas City during the Pendergast Era, an innovative project that produced new scholarship on the history of Kansas City during the interwar period, an era often described as the city’s “Golden Age.” Grant Request: $5,000.00 Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm Historic Site This proposal defrayed the cost of acquiring Border War/Civil War Program Equipment, reproduction arms, uniforms, and other equipment for the site’s Tragic Prelude education program. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Wornall Majors House Museums: This proposal funded two 33.5 x 86” Interpretive Banners to serve as mobile interpretive signage for the Wornall House. Grant Request: $1258.00

February 2016

Olathe Parks and Recreation Foundation/Olathe Memorial Cemetery: This grant defrayed the cost of acquiring eight Interpretive Kiosks for installation in the historical areas of the Olathe Memorial Cemetery. The cemetery has a rich history of pre and post Civil War conflict, with over 300 Union and Confederate buried throughout the cemetery, and mainly in the Civil War circle, established in 1865 and the Civil War soldier statue dedication in 1896. Grant Request: $5000.00 Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council: This collaborative project result in the creation of a traveling exhibit, Populating Douglas County: Pressures of Migration and Politics, and a minimum of four public programs. Douglas County, the Eudora Historical Society, the Lecompton Historical Society, the Douglas County Historical Society and the Clinton Lake Historical Society are all Freedom’s Frontier partners who seek this opportunity to strengthen cross promotion and understanding of their shared and diverse histories. Public programs at the four historical society sites focused on migration and politics and the impact on past and current culture in Douglas County. Humanities Scholar, Cindy Higgins, moderated discussions which will be sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council. Grant Request: $5000.00 Friends of Fort Scott NHS, Inc: This third edition of the Native Neighbors Program (with two previously held by Franklin County Historical Society in Ottawa, Kansas) highlighted many of the regional American Indian tribes, indigenous and relocated, which at one time or another called western Missouri and eastern Kansas their home. Their histories were told through dance, storytelling, folkways demonstrations, and more. Grant Request: $5000.00 Jesse James Birthplace and Museum: The Paper Conservation Project enhanced the visitor experience to the museum, showcasing two of Reverend James’ documents: his license to preach and diploma from Georgetown College. The conservation of these two documents provided a better understanding of how Reverend James helped shape the frontier on the western edge of Missouri prior to the Civil War. Grant Request: $1440.00 Johnson County Museum: This project provided partial funding to cover some of the costs related to graphic design, fabrication, and image reproduction rights for Permanent Hike Through History Interpretive Signage Panels along a 10.1 mile stretch of the Indian Creek Trail in Overland Park, Kansas, that surveyed the history of Johnson County by examining the derivation of the various street names that intersect the trail as well as other points of interest. Grant Request: $5000.00 Lawrence Public Library/Lawrence Public Library Foundation: The Lawrence Public Library sought partial funding to cover some of the design and fabrication costs for Hike Through History on the Burroughs Creek Trail, a traveling exhibit already underway that examines key points of historical interest along the Burroughs Creek Trail and Linear Park, a 1.7 mile concrete-paved path running 11th Street to 23rd Street in East Lawrence along a former rail line.Grant Request: $4525.00 Marla Quilts:This project targets middle school aged children. They will create small quilts using hand-dyed fabric as part of the Beyond the Book program, and interpret Elements of the Kansas Underground Railroad Program. Grant Request: $5000.00 Marais des Cygnes Society: The Poplar Heights Living History Farm: Permanent Fiber Arts Exhibit gives visitors a hands-on experience with different forms of fiber production by taking raw materials and turning them into useful and decorative products. This project also received funding from Wal-Mart. Grant Request: $5000.00 St. Joseph Museums, Inc.: The St Joseph Museums used the grant funds bring 15 printed Black Dignity images of the Mary Ellen Everhard collection from the Amon Carter Museum and display them with Professional Framing in Museum Quality Materials of Photographs for exhibition in the Black Archives Museum. Grant Request: $1500.00 Douglas County Historical Society: This project was an electronic interactive display of Civil Rights Interactive Exhibit Kiosk chronicling civil-rights issues in Lawrence in recent history. Through the media of photographs, reproduced documents, archival footage and first-person audio recordings, visitors can delve into events through several levels of detail. Grant Request: $5000.00

May 2016 Black Archives of Mid-America: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to the Black Archives of Mid-America to be used in funding the BAMA Cultural Heritage Trail: Walking Tour Brochure that pinpoints historic sites of both regional and national significance in the historic 18th & Vine District of Kansas City, MO. Grant Request: $5000.00

Franklin County Historical Society, Inc.: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to the Franklin County Historical Society to be used in completing the purchase of exhibit furniture made available by Traub Design Associates to ready the museum for the exhibit, Ritual and Reality: Secret Societies in Franklin County. Grant Request: $3500.00

Friends of the Kaw: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area will provide funds to Friends of the Kaw to support Enslaved by Freedom, a lecture series accompanied by books and a digital program focused on the lives of lesser-known men and/or women born into slavery but now free from human ownership. Grant Request: $4090.00 The Great Overland Station Museum: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds Railroad Heritage, Inc. dba The Great Overland Station Museum, to create an exhibit for the Great Overland Station Museum entitled, The Kaw: A Prairie River Shapes a State. Grant Request: $5000.00

Kansas City Public Library: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to The Kansas City Public Library for development of interpretive and educational content that will underpin a collaborative website, The Pendergast Era: Kansas City in the Jazz Age and Great Depression, 1918-1941. Grant Request: $5000.00

Kansas State Historical Society: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to Kansas State Historical Society for support for a yearlong Lecture Series, which work in partnership with the mission of Freedom’s Frontier. Grant Request: $4903.00

Lecompton Historical Society: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to the Lecompton Historical Society to be used for Artifact Records Updating by inventorying, photographing, applying or reapplying identification numbers, collecting additional data on the artifacts, and entering it on PastPerfect software, by hiring a student or new graduate from the KU Museum Studies program. Grant Request: $5000.00 Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes for Exhibit Expansion to incorporate more local unsung heroes throughout history. Grant Request: $1500.00 City of Osceola: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to the City of Osceola to be used in funding twelve Interpretive Panels along the walking trail from Benton Street to its RV Park then ending at the historic Osceola Square. Grant Request: $5000.00 Shawnee County Historical Society: Shawnee County Historical Society provided six weeks of Heritage Education Programming for elementary and middle school-age youth. History camp met at Cox Communications Heritage Education Center on Historic Ritchie House grounds. The program, “Ethnic Communities of Shawnee County, A Melting Pot of History, Culture, and Traditions”, emphasized different ethnic groups in Kansas and Shawnee County in the early settlement period which marked the contributions that helped to shape the frontier. Grant Request: $4298.00

August 2016 Monnett Battle of Westport Fund: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds for: Three permanent Wayside Markers describing successive battles at this location on 22 and 23 October 1864 and the overall context of these events during the Battle of Westport. Grant Request: $4550.00 Topeka Center for Peace and Justice: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds for: Justice Circles. This TCPJ Project introduced approximately 30 middle school teachers in Shawnee County to the value of Justice Circles in building community in schools, teaching children to value diversity and to respect multiple perspectives. These teachers attended a training designed to help them develop Justice Circles in every middle school in Shawnee County. With the FFNHA funding, the project was desined to put Justice Circles into historical context, demonstrating how they developed from Native American cultures in Kansas, creating communities that celebrated freedom, while setting appropriate limits on the individual’s behavior. Grant Request: $5000.00 Kansas City Museum: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to Kansas City Museum to cover some of the costs related to the development of a permanent Interpretive Signage Project along a 3.2 mile stretch of the Indian Creek Trail in Kansas City, MO that will survey the history of Jackson County by examining the derivation of the various street names that intersect the trail as well as other points of interest. Grant Request: $5000.00 Old Trails Regional Tourism Partnership: This grant was used to develop banner displays with supporting Brochure materials to answer the question regarding the Old Trails Region, “What Trails?” Materials were developed to share the story of the Osage Trace (trail), Santa Fe and Lewis and Clark Trails and the Mormon experiences in the Old Trails Region. Grant Request: $3056.00 Wornall Majors House Museums: The museums developed the Brokering the Border Exhibition which provided an overview of emancipation in Missouri, with particular focus on western Missouri. The exhibit explored the impact of the long Civil War on the Kansas/Missouri border on enslaved Missourians and how the unique convergence of factors in the region facilitated emancipation. Grant Request: $4500.00 Wyandotte High School: Grant funds further developed the established School Partnership and Bus Tours between Shawnee Mission East and Wyandotte High School; including fall author visits, bus tours, writing showcase, Freedom Corps, all discussing the history of racial politics in Kansas City and its schools and how these issues affect us today. Grant Request: $5000.00

November 2016 The Curators of the University of Missouri: Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area provided fund to fabricate a Traveling Exhibit on the region's surprisingly pivotal role in the rise of America's gay rights movement. Grant Request: $5060.00

Jackson County Historical Society: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to the Jackson County Historical Society to: Develop a temporary Paneled Exhibit that explored the migration of German immigrants to Missouri in the 19th century and the lasting effects the migration had on Missouri culture. Grant Request: $1300.00 Johnson County Museum Foundation: Grant funds supported the Exhibition Costs and direct costs associated with the section of a museum exhibit examining the Border War and Civil War period from 1855-1865. The exhibition, Becoming Johnson County, provides museum visitors with a survey of Johnson County’s history and development from 1825-2000 and is expected to be a long- term exhibition with a 15-year useful life. Grant Request: $5000.00

Lawrence Public Library: Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to the Lawrence Public Library to cover the design and partial fabrication costs for a series of nine permanent outdoor interpretive Signage Panels that examine key points of historical interest along the Burroughs Creek Trail and Linear Park, a 1.7 mile concrete-paved path running 11th street to 23rd street in East Lawrence along a former rail line. Grant Request: $5000.00

Shawnee County Historical Society/Ritchie House: Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area provided funds to Shawnee County Historical Society to acquire recommendations for improvement in how the organization was Interpreting the Ritchie House and grounds, and to improve the education program hands-on experience for students. Grant Request: $3562.61 February 2017

Little House on the Prairie Museum: This funding request replaced three existing signs, one being double sided, that described the history of the structures that embody the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder traveling in a covered wagon trying to conquer the new land of the undiscovered frontiers. This Signage project also included funding for a new brochure and 11 postcards. Grant Request: $4058.00 Raytown High School: This Race Project KC Expansion project continues the efforts of students and teachers at Raytown High School. In this initiative, studendt read and discuss the details of the book Some of My Best Friends are Black, accompanying it with discussions with author Tanner Colby. Grant Request: $4850.00 Shawnee Town 1929: The Enduring Power of Story Workshop Program engaged attendees in the important work that story plays in all of our lives. Through the power of memory in intergenerational and teacher training workshops as well as folk tales and fables, the Museum drew upon program participants' experiences to foster a love of history and a heightened awareness of the shared, sometimes diverse, experiences and struggles of us all. Grant Request: $4350.00

May 2017 Arts and AGEing KC: This organization conducted an all day training workshop on Museums and Intergenerational Sharing: The Challenges and the Joy of Working with Persons with Dementia and their Caregivers. The workshop trained museum professionals and their volunteer interpreters. Grant Request: $2800.00

Learning Tree Institute at Greenbush, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center: : This grant launched an exciting expansion of existing distance learning programming to build awareness of the enduring struggles for freedom that have occurred throughout FFNHA. Greenbush Anywhere Virtual History Project involved four FFNHA partner sites in the development of relevant and engaging history lessons. Greenbush provided training and support to help sites align lessons to educational standards and engage students using interactive distance learning techniques. Grant Request: $4990.56

Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes: Grant funds were used to design, produce and display a new exhibit panel, She Outranks Me, that features a hero from an era that greatly impacted Fort Scott, the Civil War. The funds were also used for creating a standing display banner that allowed the center to share her story at conferences around the country. Grant Request: $4000.00 Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site: This grant funding defrayed approximately 2/3 of the cost of digitally scanning, locating online, retouching, and professional printing for the project In the News: Reprinting Historical Newspapers. Two copies of thirty-two editions of the Olathe Mirror between 1865 and 1867 were created for use in living history programming. Grant Request: $5000.00

Quindaro Underground Railroad Museum: The museum created a 3-day series of 4-6 educational and entertaining living history presentations in April 2018 concerning the stories and lifestyles of the international fur trade along the waterways of North America that will be offered to students of wide range of educational levels. These presentations, From Quebec to Quindaro, were led by Tim Kent and his wife Doree. They used a multidisciplinary methodology that included lecture, living history reenactment, interactive displays, and identification and availability of resources to facilitate a deeper understanding of the regional significance of the international fur trade. Grant Request: $5000.00 Wornall Majors House Museums: The museum modified the ways that is was Interpreting Alexander Majors to make it appropriate for self-guided tours, including printing permanent interpretive signage, rearranging artifacts, creating artifact labels, and protecting particularly valuable or vulnerable items vitrines and ropens and stanchions. Grant Request: $2925.00

August 2017

Kansas Historical Society - Kansas Museum of History: The museum requested funding for eight Museum After Hours (MAH) lectures that ran through the end of the centennial commemoration of World War I and the close of the special exhibit Captured: The Extraordinary Adventures of Colonel Hughes, who served in both world wars. The lectures endorsed the FFNHA’s interpretive theme of Enduring Struggles for Freedom. Seven of the eight speakers work within the 41 counties of FFNHA. Grant Request: $3935.00

Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm Historic Site: Grant funding defrayed a third of the cost of the architectural services and planning to repair/rebuild the Front Porch of the 1865 Mahaffie Farmhouse. Grant Request: $5000.00

Community Health Council of Wyandotte County: The council used funds to complete the second issue of the Redlined series, 9 Months. Funds helped cover writer/artist fees and curriculum creation. This installment extracts and narrates HEAT Report data collected on single mothers, children’s health, and access to prenatal care. Grant Request: $5000.00 Fractured Atlas: Weaving the River is an immersive art experience that celebrated the unrecognized history of the Wyandot Indian Settlement of Quindaro and current Western University Alumni Association and Unified Government of Wyandotte County Quindaro Townsite. This installation included a soundscape composed by Jen Appell. Justin Border and Meghan Rowswell sculpturally interpreted the topography of the Missouri and Kansas riverbanks. Between the land masses, Jillian Youngbird wove a river from sticks and resources collected from the settlement and yarn steeped in water of the Missouri. Grant Request: $4960.00

November 2017 Lexington Missouri Tourism Bureau: In order to commemorate the historic significance to the town of Lexington, an exhibit in the tourism office of 3 Historical Banners and Cut-Outs, retractable banners that focused on the battle of Lexington, and historic Highway 24 as an “Old Trail” to get visitors to/from Lexington and their rich history surrounding the foundations of FFNHA’s core mission. Additionally, the bureau produced cutouts of local historical figures from Lexington to place in the windows of downtown businesses they once occupied. Grant Request: $1500.00 February 2018 Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes : The center produced a community event Honoring Unsung Hero Mary Bickerdyke. Attendants learned about Civil War era medicine, practices and modern health preparations. The Lowell Milken Center is partnering with the Fort Scott National Historic Site. Grant Request: $2145.00 Pony Express National Museum: This museum developed a Historic Photos Kiosk project. The project will allowed for the story of the Pony Express to be conveyed through photographs of the various locations riders stopped at on the trail. Grant Request: $3319.80 Kansas City Kansas Public Library: This project centered on a vital photo.The Guthrie Daguerreotype Preservation and Interpretation project created an exhibition for this photo within the library's Quindaro exhibit and also allowed for further community interpretation through the library website. Grant Request: $1200.00 Jackson County Historical Society: Funding offsets costs for the event, Party Like It's 1843! This event features a lecture series, frontier fashion show, music, living history and much more. This 3- day cultural festival celebrates the 175th anniversary of the Great Migration on the Oregon Trail. Grant Request: $2880.90

Cass County Historical Society: Funding allow for the redevelopment of an existing exhibit, including a partnership with Next Exit History, a web-platform that will allow for GPS based tours and exciting programming throughout the district and the museum. The project title is Burnt District Exhibit 2.0. Grant Request: $3900.00

May 2018 De Soto Historical Society: This project for Preserving the Diverse Stories of De Soto, Kansas’ History allowed for the purchase of De Soto newspapers from the Kansas Historical Society. The newspapers were transferred to microfilm, and made accessible to the public and available for research and interpretation. Grant Request: $4433.00

Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm Historic Site: Grant funds defrayed almost half of the cost of designing, fabricating and installing Interpretive/Wayfinding Kiosks for Mahaffie Historic Site Grounds. Grant Request: $5000.00

Oregon-California Trails Association: The organization is using the grant funds to build a website: Telling the Story of Shaping the Frontier via the Oregon-California Trails Association’s Gateway (St. Joseph) Chapter Website. Grant Request: $4977.50

Reel Images Film and Video Group: Funds allowed for the development of the documentary film, 18th Street Lives. The documentary will chronicle the history of Kansas City’s 18th and Vine district from the early to the mid twentieth century. Grant Request: $4998.40

Friends of the Free State Capitol Inc.: In 1856, federal forces, on orders of President Franklin Pierce, surrounded Constitution Hall, aimed cannons, and broke up the meeting of the Free State government. Funds allowed for this important event in local, state, regional and national history to be brought to life through dramatic interpretation in a Reenactment of the 1856 Dispersal of the Legislature at Constitution Hall in Topeka. Grant Request: $1100.00

Wornall/Majors House Museums: Funds improved interpretation of Freighting on the Frontier: Blacksmith Shop & Wagon Room at Alexander Majors House, including the stories of the employees and enslaved men who worked for him on his property. Grant Request: $2025.27

August 2018

The Baker University Archives and Old Castle Museum: This award facilitated the purchase of a Museum Grade Mannequin for the purpose of displaying cloth materials found in the collection. In the long-run, it will support cloth materials found throughout the archives, and related to FFNHA themes. Grant Request: $988.90 City of Fountains Foundation: A Bronze Statue Addition to the fountain honors the founder of Kansas City, Francois Chouteau, and depicts Native Americans who lived and traded in the area. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Clay County Museum and Historical Society Funds will allow for the creation of a Battle of Liberty Exhibit, Driving/Walking Tour and Documentary focusing on the Civil War and the Battle of Liberty. Grant Request: $5,000.00 Jesse James Birthplace and Museum: Funding will allow for a Website Update of the Jesse James Birthplace website, in order to create an engaging experience and clear point of contact for potential and past visitors of the site. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Lecompton Historical Society: This will allow for Website Update, and the creation of a highly secure website, designed to best reflect the historical significance of Lecompton and its role in shaping the history of the state, region and the nation. Grant Request: $5,000.00

Lawrence Community Food Alliance (Sunrise Project): Funds will allow for the creation of a deeper understanding of the history, stories and places that shaped Lawrence through a People’s History of East Lawrence Tour to focus on lesser known stories. Eastside People’s Intercultural Center (Epicenter) is creating lesson plans and brochures—with voices of witnesses, their descendants, marginalized peoples, and local historians—and is organizing an event opening celebrating. Grant Request: $2,500.00

Douglas County Historical Society: The Watkins Museum of History will create a brochure (Discover the Stories that Define Lawrence), that will promote the Watkins Museum of History in a new way—by engaging visitors with the community’s unique past first, then encouraging them to visit the Watkins Museum for the full story. Grant Request: $1,496.00