The History Channel(R) Save Our History Grant Program Announces Grant Winners in 26 Local Communities Across the Nation

The History Channel(R) Save Our History Grant Program Announces Grant Winners in 26 Local Communities Across the Nation

Network Embarks on Second Year of Funding Community Preservation Projects to Save Endangered Local History

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The History Channel today announced that 26 history organizations across the country will receive Save Our History preservation grants. These will fund innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together, actively engage children in the preservation of their local history and communicate the importance of saving local history for future generations.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051031/HISTORYLOGO )

The History Channel created the Save Our History Grant Program as an extension of the Save Our History philanthropic initiative and is committed to inspiring and motivating local communities to learn about and take an active role in the preservation of their past through projects involving artifacts, oral histories, sites, museums or landmarks that exist in their own neighborhoods.

In the first two years of the National Grant Program, The History Channel has received funding requests exceeding $8 million from history organizations representing 50 states and the District of Columbia. In 2006, The History Channel will have contributed more than $500,000 in grant funding toward this cause.

This year's 2006 grants are a diverse and extensive representation of significant American history spanning more than 300 years in 26 communities. Projects range from tracing our nation's revolutionary beginnings, to investigating the history and culture of a community's racially charged past, from the civil war to the civil rights movement. A few of the projects include:

-- Recovery & Return: The Bill of Rights Comes Home - In Raleigh, N.C.,
the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives
and History, and the Ligon Gifted and Talented Magnet Middle School
will join together to create a museum exhibit and re-enactment of
events depicting the 2005 "sting" operation, which recovered the North
Carolina handwritten copy of the Bill of Rights, missing since the last
days of the Civil War.

-- Lincoln School African American Archive Project - The Atchison County
Historical Society in Atchison, Kan., will partner with middle school
students and the local Girl Scouts to preserve Atchison's African
American community by creating an archive at the Lincoln School, which
was the last segregated school in the community. Students will focus
on the topics of segregation and integration through oral histories,
story panels and a multi-media project.

-- Here in Our Backyards - The New Mexico Office of the State Historian
and the Santa Fe Opera will collaborate with a class of eighth grade
students at Alameda Middle School on a student-produced opera about the
Casa Solana neighborhood. This neighborhood is particularly significant
as it was the site of a Japanese internment camp during WWII.
Additionally, students will conduct research at the New Mexico State
Archives and collect oral histories of community members.

-- Let the Children Speak - In St. Martinville, La., Cecilia Junior High
School, Paul Breaux Middle School and Catholic High School students
will research the lives of the approximately 1500 orphaned Acadian
children who arrived in Louisiana after being forced from their farms
with their families in Nova Scotia by the English in 1755. The
students will work with primary and secondary documents and with
docents from the Acadian Memorial Foundation to gather historical facts
about the culture and history of the Acadian settlers. From these
facts, children will develop stories and preserve the history of the
lives of actual children listed on the "Wall of Names" within the
Foundation.

-- Recreating Our Historical Umiak Journeys - The Native Village of Eyak
(the tribal government), in conjunction with 50 students from Cordova
Jr. Senior High School in Alaska, will build a traditional Umiak and
take it through the traditional summer hunting route -- more than one
hundred miles round-trip. The Umiak is a ship used by the Alutiiq
people to carry large groups of people on the Gulf of Mexico and were
destroyed by Russian invaders on the 1700's. Students will interview
community elders and will video the re-enactment. The ship will be
permanently displayed at the community's cultural center.

The History Channel is also awarding Save Our History grants to historic organizations in Alstead, N.H.; Athens, Tenn.; Augusta, Ga.; Baltimore; Bethlehem, Pa.; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Chicago; Denver; Elmira, N.Y.; Frederick, Md.; Fishers, Ind.; Galveston, Texas; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tenn.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Ventura, Calif.

"Through the ongoing commitment of grants, the Save Our History National Program has been able to create a network of community preservation projects," said Dan Davids, President of The History Channel - USA. "The grants make it possible for communities to save significant elements of their local history and the partnership between the schools and the historic organizations brings communities together. Beyond that, this interaction sets in motion a future of collaboration that will hopefully inspire generations to continue these historic preservation efforts. We are proud to be a part of this momentum and help give communities the catalyst they need to begin saving their legacy."

In its first year, these educational projects made lasting impressions on the participating children. Many projects instilled a sense of responsibility and pride in students about their communities, resulting in increased excitement and involvement in the projects. In Cleveland, the student attendance during this program increased to nearly 100% each day. The Western Reserve Historical Society partnered with tenth grade students from the Academy of Creative Expressions at East High School and created an exhibit to display artifacts found during an archeological dig in the neighborhood. Items found dated as far back as the 1880's and told a rich history story of the people who lived there. The final project was identified by the KnowledgeWorks Foundation of Cincinnati as a model service-based project for the Small High School Initiative in Ohio. In Baltimore, the grant allowed the Maryland Historical Society to help a local high school produce the first oral history of Clifton Park, a district of Baltimore with deep roots in the desegregation movement of the 1960's. The students applied themselves to a surprising extent and created the first book of any kind written about the Clifton Park neighborhood. Mary Pat Clark, a City Councilwoman, got word of the students work and rallied the entire community behind the effort resulting in an invitation for the children to speak with the Mayor at a City Council meeting.

Historic organizations that are interested in funding for preservation projects developed with local schools or youth groups are encouraged to apply for a 2007 Save Our History Grant. Applications will be available beginning February 1, 2006.

The History Channel also wishes to honor teachers and students across the country who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to local history through their preservation or history education efforts. Applications for the Save Our History National Honors for Teachers and Students are due by April 7, 2006. A creative lesson plan, activity and/or project could win up to $5,000 in Cash Prizes. For additional information on the Save Our History Grant Program or Save Our History National Honors Program please log onto www.saveourhistory.com.

About Save Our History Educational Materials

In 2004, The History Channel developed a comprehensive Educators' Manual containing standards-based lesson plans, enrichment activities, and resources that help provide teachers in elementary, middle and high school with valuable materials that provide a connection between local and national history. To date, more than 20,000 educators at schools, youth groups, history museums, historic sites, and civic agencies have used the educational materials to teach over 250,000 students about their local history and the importance of preserving it.

Program Sponsor

For 2006, Lowe's has signed on as the primary sponsor of Save Our History, as the official "home improvement" sponsor. Lowe's will also be the on-air sponsor for the program.

About Lowe's

With fiscal year 2005 sales of $36.5 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE(R) 50 company that serves approximately 11 million customers a week at more than 1,100 home improvement stores in 48 states. Based in Mooresville, N.C., the 59-year old company is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

About Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is one of the world's largest philanthropy services, helping donors create thoughtful, effective philanthropy throughout the world. Originally developed as the private philanthropy service of the Rockefeller family, it is now an independent, nonprofit service that represents the cumulative knowledge and experience of more than a century of high-quality professional service to America's most philanthropic family. Over the past decade, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors has served more than 100 clients and facilitated over $850 million in gifts/grants to more than 40 countries.

About AASLH

AASLH was born in 1904 as a department within the American Historical Association. Now, one hundred years later, AASLH is the only national association dedicated to the people and organizations that practice state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful to all Americans. From its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, AASLH provides a variety of programs and services, as well as leadership in the national arena.

About Save Our History

Save Our History is an Emmy(R) Award-winning strategic philanthropic initiative of The History Channel that launched in 1998, designed to further historic preservation and history education. The program supplements the teaching of history in America's classrooms, educates the public on the importance of historical preservation and motivates communities across the country to help save endangered local historic treasures. The Save Our History campaign includes original documentaries, special teachers' materials, national promotion on The History Channel, broadband activities in schools, and has worked with The Smithsonian Institution, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, National World War II Memorial, American Rivers and The White House 200th Anniversary. Additional information about the grassroots Save Our History program, including a comprehensive school manual containing suggested lesson plans for grades two through 12 and details about working with local preservation organizations can also be found at www.saveourhistory.com.

The History Channel

Now reaching more than 88 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel(R), "Where the Past Comes Alive(R)," brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and connects their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. The History Channel earned six News and Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and previously received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History(R)" campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel web site is located at www.History.com. Press Only: For more information and photography please visit us on the web at www.historychannelpress.com.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051031/HISTORYLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: The History Channel

CONTACT: Danielle Capogrosso of Edelman, New York, +1-212-819-4827,
danielle.capogrosso@edelman.com, for The History Channel; Jenna Farkas of The
History Channel, +1-212-210-9184, jenna.farkas@aetn.com

Web site: http://www.history.com/
http://www.saveourhistory.com/
http://www.historychannelpress.com/

-------
Profile: intent