The Oklahoma Historical Society awarded 37 entities a total of $520,000 in grants this year, including several with Route 66 ties.
We mentioned yesterday the Totum Pole Park near Foyil received a $20,000 grant to help restore its Fiddle House.
Here are the rest of them that are relevant to Route 66:
Friends of the Coleman, Miami, $18,000 grant: Awarded funds to preserve, protect and digitize several thousand existing items related to The Coleman Theatre, including playbills, photographs, newspaper articles, letters, information files and artifacts. Plans include placing the fully digitized collection online.
Tulsa Foundation for Architecture, $20,000 grant: Awarded funds to provide greater public access to collections via digitized scans of the originals and provide a revenue stream for sustainability. This project aims to digitize at least 10,000 additional works from collections, beginning with those most frequently requested.
El Reno Carnegie Library, $15,155 grant: Awarded funds for the digitization of items focusing on urban development, local government and local events during territorial and early statehood. Items will be digitized and placed on The Gateway to Oklahoma History.
Elk City Carnegie Library, $20,000 grant: Awarded funds to digitize 150 rolls of Elk City News microfilm from 1964 to June 1992, preserving local history and enabling public access via The Gateway to Oklahoma History.
Edmond History Museum, $20,000 grant: Awarded funds to facilitate the digitization of the Edmond Sun newspaper archives from 1964 to June 2000, making them accessible on The Gateway to Oklahoma History.
Bristow Historical Society Inc., $8,605 grant: Awarded funds to record, transcribe and integrate 30 new oral histories into its content management system. These resources will be made accessible to the public through both an on-site kiosk and the organization’s website, enriching historical knowledge and community engagement.
(Hat tip to Oklahoma Route 66 Association; image of the Coleman Theatre in Miami, Oklahoma, in 1929 by CharmaineZoe’s Marvelous Melange via Flickr)