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The Filson receives grant from the NEH SHARP

Louisville, Ky – The Filson Historical Society is thrilled to announce that it has received an award from the National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (#SHARP) grant. The award, totaling $146,364, will allow the Filson to revive and expand a digital history project, “The First American West, the Ohio River Valley, 1750-1870.”

The original project was a collaboration between the Filson, the University of Chicago, and the Library of Congress, and has been offline since 2016. The Filson will use these funds to convert old files, scan new documents, objects, and maps to bring new historical voices to users, launch a new crowdsourcing transcription initiative, and host public programming throughout 2022 on the topics of digital history and the early-American frontier.

“This project lets us reflect on two important eras, the period of settler conflict that brought European, Indigenous, and African people and ideas into Kentucky and the early experimentation with digital technology to enable people to engage the past in new ways,” says Patrick Lewis, Director of Collections & Research at the Filson. “I am looking forward to interesting conversations about what greater representation, inclusion, and access to the historical record can mean for our society today and in the future.”

For more information on the Filson’s upcoming events, please visit filsonhistorical.org/events or call (502) 635-5083. At this time, all programming is being held virtually through December 31, 2021, with a few exceptions. For more information on the Filson’s Covid-19 policies, please refer to the reopening plan listed on the website.

Since its founding in 1884, The Filson Historical Society has preserved the region’s collective memory, not only of Kentucky but also of the Ohio Valley and the Upper South. The Filson continues to collect and share the significant stories of the region. An independent historical society, The Filson serves the public through its extensive research collections and numerous educational opportunities. The Filson is headquartered in the Ferguson Mansion in Old Louisville and offers research facilities, event, and rental space.

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.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this press release do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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