The History Channel(R) Save Our History Program Awards Grants to 27 Communities Nationwide to Preserve Their Local History

The History Channel(R) Save Our History Program Awards Grants to 27 Communities Nationwide to Preserve Their Local History

NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The History Channel (www.saveourhistory.com) announced today that 27 organizations across the country will receive Save Our History grants as part of an effort to help communities preserve their local history. With the support of local cable companies in each community, the grants fund innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together, actively engage young people in the preservation of their local history and communicate the importance of saving local history for future generations. This year, The History Channel has committed $250,000 to support these 27 outstanding initiatives with grants of up to $10,000 each.

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The History Channel, with the counsel of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) and the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH), created the Save Our History Grant Program in 2004 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 four years, 1,934 historic organizations, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia have applied for funding through the Save Our History Grant Program. To date, The History Channel and its cable partners have given $1 million to fund community preservation projects across the country.

A few of this year's projects include:

-- Immigration Reflections: From Ellis Island to Staten Island/ Staten
Island, NY -- This collaboration between the National Park Service, the
College of Staten Island, Save Ellis Island Inc., and the High School
for International Studies on Staten Island will preserve the history of
immigration within students' communities. Students will work in teams
to interview immigrants within their community, and to research census
records, ship manifests and immigration documents to locate and learn
about specific Ellis Island immigrants who lived in their same
neighborhoods. Students will then compare and contrast the experiences
of immigrants then and now by producing 3 - 5 minute podcasts. Oral
history transcripts and recordings will be made available to Staten
Island museums and The Oral History Project at Ellis Island, while
podcasts will be available for download online.

-- West Chicago Community High School District 34/ Chicago, IL -- The West
Chicago City Museum will guide students from West Chicago Community
High School District 94 in a research project designed to explore and
document the life of Mexican immigrants in West Chicago. Business
brought Mexican laborers to West Chicago to work, housing them in a
segregated area, and much of their history remains unknown to the
larger population. Students will collect oral histories from the
Mexican and Mexican American community, and with the museum will
develop an interactive website where community members can continue to
post their stories, as well as a traveling exhibit on the history of
Mexicans in West Chicago and their contribution to the culture of the
city.

-- World War II Submarines and Support Oral History Project/ Manitowoc, WI
-- Students in 10th and 11th grades at Lincoln and Kewaskum High
Schools in Wisconsin will, under the guidance of the Wisconsin Maritime
Museum, learn about and preserve local WWII history by interviewing
submariners, shipyard workers, and family members who served on, built
or supported the 28 Manitowoc-built WWII submarines. Students will
learn about Manitowoc's maritime history and Wisconsin's contribution
to the war effort, shipbuilding technology and industrial progress
through an overnight trip spent on a submarine, oral history recordings
and the making of a documentary to be used at the museum and hosted on
their website.

-- Old Harbor School/ Old Harbor, AK -- This project will partner the Old
Harbor Tribal Council with high school students from the neighboring
Old Harbor School, to capture the history of the Alutiiq elders through
video documentary. Students will interview their elders, recording
their oral histories, scanning personal photo collections and
digitizing any video they have in an effort to create a video biography
of the elder Alutiiq people. This project will connect students to
their rich Alutiiq past, through the modern approach of using
technology as a preservation tool.

-- Commemorating the Chinese Burial Grounds at Boston's Mt. Hope Cemetery/
Boston, MA -- The Chinese Historical Society of New England will
partner with the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAPAY) in
an inter-generational, community history preservation and education
project. The project focuses on the significance of the new memorial at
Mt. Hope Cemetery, built to honor the construction of the Chinese
Burial Grounds there and the pioneering Chinese immigrants who are
ancestors of today's Chinese community in Boston. Students will
participate in research and workshops to gain the background knowledge
necessary to develop digital stories that highlight the importance of
Mt. Hope Cemetery, as well as create a multimedia tour of the Chinese
Burial Grounds that will be available online. Students will also create
a document providing background context and learning activities to
enable teachers to incorporate the digital stories and tour into their
curriculum.

In addition to these projects, The History Channel is also awarding Save Our History grants to historic organizations in Alabama, California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Vermont.

"We award the Save Our History grants to organizations that demonstrate their commitment to building partnerships within communities," said Nancy Dubuc, Executive Vice President and General Manager, The History Channel. "Historical organizations can't preserve history in a vacuum. It's the partnerships with local educational groups, government officials, and businesses that make preservation a sustainable goal. Getting young people involved is a key aspect of this grants program."

Historical organizations interested in receiving funding for preservation projects developed with local schools or youth groups are encouraged to apply for a 2008/2009 Save Our History Grant. Applications will be available in January 2008, online at saveourhistory.com.

About Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is an independent, nonprofit service that helps donors to create thoughtful, effective philanthropy throughout the world. RPA provides research and counsel on charitable giving, develops philanthropic programs, and offers complete program, administrative and management services for foundations and trusts. In 2006, RPA advised on and managed more than $150 million in annual giving in more than 30 countries. For more information visit www.rockpa.org.

About AASLH

AASLH was born in 1904 as a part of the American Historical Association. Over 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. These history organizations are American leaders in preserving, researching, and interpreting traces of the past to connect the people, thoughts, and events of yesterday with the creative memories and abiding concerns of people, communities, and our nation today. History organizations are foremost education institutions, and they excel in creating the enlightened, engaged citizenry that the founders envisioned. 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 Educational Materials

The History Channel, in collaboration with leading educators from the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), developed a comprehensive Educator's Manual containing standards-based lesson plans, enrichment activities, and resources that help elementary, middle and high school teachers connect American History content to their local history. The manual guides teachers to engage students in hands-on, experiential preservation projects. The Educator's Manual is supplemented by monthly Save Our History lesson plans available to educators who register online to receive them at www.saveourhistory.com.

To date, more than 60,000 educators at schools, youth groups, history museums, and historic sites have used the educational materials to teach over 1.8 million students about their local history and the importance of preserving it.

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

The History Channel(R) is a leading cable television network featuring compelling original, non-fiction specials and series that bring history to life in a powerful and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. The network provides an inviting place where people experience history in new and exciting ways enabling them to connect their lives today to the great lives and events of the past that provide a blueprint for the future. The History Channel has earned four Peabody Awards, three Primetime Emmy(R) Awards, ten News & Documentary Emmy(R) Awards and 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 reaches more than 93 million Nielsen subscribers. The website is located at www.History.com.

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Source: The History Channel

CONTACT: Cara Tocci of The History Channel, +1-212-210-9083,
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Web site:

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http://www.saveourhistory.com/
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