Greenwich Historical Society Pursues New Initiatives Using Grant

Press release from CT Humanities:

Aug. 12, 2020

Greenwich Historical Society announces several new initiatives funded by CT Humanities grants that will enable it to better deliver on its mission amid the COVID pandemic that has changed the way the museum world connects with its audiences. Totaling $42,247 in support, the grants were awarded to fund new digital initiatives, including a platform for extending the reach of its landmark exhibition on woman’s suffrage, a future exhibition on sports and athletic pastimes, and resources that will support staff salaries and costs related to the campus reopening on June 20.

“With the institutional closures and changes wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reexamining many previous assumptions about how we prioritize our offerings, who our audience is, and how we reach them,” says Debra Mecky, executive director and CEO of the Greenwich Historical Society. “These grants help us at a critical time to remain actively engaged with our constituents by connecting them in new ways to Greenwich’s past in the broad context of American history. We’re thrilled with the recognition and feel confident the new programs will have broad appeal.”

• New digital exhibition resource The Historical Society will pilot a new digital initiative to broaden the reach of its current exhibition An Unfinished Revolution: The Woman’s Suffrage Centennial, made possible through a CT Humanities Quick Grant. A digital exhibition resource accessible on computers and mobile devices will allow the educational and interpretive content to exist indefinitely long after the physical exhibition closes on November 1.

“The digital exhibition, due to launch on Women’s Equality Day on August 26, 2020, will be an enduring resource that will provide historical context about the women’s suffrage movement in Greenwich to educators, historians, students of history and members of local and area communities,” says Greenwich Historical Society Curator of Exhibitions and Collections Maggie Dimock. “It will also serve to supplement and augment the curtailed gallery experience resulting from COVID-19.”

• Sports and athletic pastimes exhibition Scheduled to open in February 2022, this exhibition is made possible through a Planning Grant and will be the first in the Historical Society’s 90-year history dedicated to the legacy of sports and athletic pastimes in Greenwich and surrounding towns. Visitors will be connected to the past in meaningful ways, through first-hand stories of prominent Greenwich athletes, community teams and athletic clubs through the decades, and by opportunities to learn about the development of modern American society through the lens of leisure time, sports, and athletic competition.

By sharing interesting stories from diverse areas of sporting history, across time, class, race and gender lines, the exhibition will offer an ideal platform to further the Historical Society’s goals of addressing social issues and reaching broad audiences, while telling a rich and local Greenwich story.

In addition, a CTH CARES Grant was received to provide essential support for staff salaries following the Historical Society’s three-month shut down. It will support initiatives such as developing a new landscape tour of the Bush-Holley site and instituting a Reopening Task Force that charted strategies for increased building sanitation, timed tickets and visitation for the campus reopening. Since reopening, the Historical Society has welcomed a steady stream of visitors at timed intervals to visit its Museum Galleries, historic gardens and landscape and Museum Store.

"The Greenwich Historical Society plays a critical role in preserving Greenwich’s history and sharing its stories with the public,” says Scott Wands, CT Humanities Manager of Grants and Programs. “CT Humanities is pleased to be able to help the institution move its programming online, conduct research and plan for future exhibitions, and maintain its operations and staff during this unprecedented time.”

CT Humanities grants support a wide range of community-oriented public programs that drive a better understanding and appreciation of human history, culture, values, and beliefs. The most recent funding cycle for Quick Grants was dedicated to projects that were developed to meet new challenges and needs that have arisen from the COVID-19 health crisis. CT Humanities is an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information, please visit cthumanities.org.

This press release was produced by CT Humanities. The views expressed here are the author's own.