Creating Holyoke: Immigrants' and Migrants' Search for Community

FAIN: BR-50045-08

City of Holyoke (Holyoke, MA 01040-3904)
Kate Navarra Thibodeau (Project Director: January 2008 to March 2010)

Implementation of a citywide project that tells the story of immigration to Holyoke, Massachusetts, through separate interpretive exhibitions at three museums, complemented by public programming, heritage tours, a teacher institute, and a website.

Wistariahurst Museum, as lead organization, are seeking a National Endowment for the Humanities Implementation Grant for the final phase of a city-wide historic interpretation project entitled Creating Holyoke: Immigrants' and Migrants' Search for Community. The final project requires funding for: the final design and fabrication of three permanent exhibits at Holyoke Heritage State Park, Wistariahurst Museum and the Children's Museum at Holyoke on the themes of Opportunity and Industry, Recreation and Cultural Life, and Family Life; the further development and implementation of city-wide programming such as oral history projects, mural projects, teacher development workshops, way-finding signs to direct visitors to partner sites throughout the city, site based exhibit panels and walking/driving tours, an online resource for historical materials, and a documentary film.