Danvers Historical Society Awarded $5000 Digital Capacity Grant from Mass Humanities
Danvers, MA— throughout 2020-2021, The Danvers Historical Society has adjusted to producing speaker lectures and history lessons virtually. Thanks to Mass Humanities and their $5000 Digital Capacity grant, the Society is able to bring even more digital content to an expanded audience.
Sheila Cooke-Kayser, retired National Park Service Educator, has been organizing the Third Grade History Week program since 2012. The program has been part of the Danvers Public Schools’ Curriculum for 35 years. The Society will make this year’s virtual program extraordinary and memorable, providing students a sense of place in their town, the Page House, Tapley Memorial Hall, Glen Magna Farms, and to be just as fascinated by Danvers history as they would be if they were at the properties in person.
The dedicated Danvers Historical Society staff and volunteers have been coordinating volunteers, speakers, scripts, filming schedules, at various historic locations. Professionals Barry Kaplan, of the Finer Image, and Brian Johnson, of BJK Productions, are guiding the Society in photographing Danvers’ artifacts that will be in the new artifact gallery on www.danvershistory.org. This virtual exhibit will provide access to Society collections for the general public.
The professionals at Danvers Community Access Television have been helping tremendously with the production and editing of the videos. DCAT has been there for the Historical Society since Day One of the pandemic, mentoring and training society staff on equipment to the point where filming and video making has become a norm for the Society.
The Danvers Historical Society wants to thank Mass Humanities, David Rodriguez at DCAT, Sheila Cooke-Kayser, David McKenna, Richard Trask, Matt Martin, and Nancy McNulty for their time and effort put into the video portion of this digital project. The third grade teachers of Danvers are looking forward to premiering the videos with their students and studying the importance of history in their town.
The Mass Humanities Digital Capacity Grant, funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities, has provided the Society with a skill building opportunity that will grow digital and virtual resources for the 3rd Grade Program, Arts in America Program with Salem State University, and for the benefit of a worldwide audience for years to come, while preserving and educating on the rich history of Danvers.