The City of Gaithersburg has announced that its Community Museum was recently awarded a $20,000 grant.
Per the news release: The Gaithersburg Community Museum was presented with this year’s Miller History Fund grant by the Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC). The $20,000 grant was awarded to the Museum through the Gaithersburg Parks, Arts and Recreation Corporation (G-PARC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that raises resources to support arts and recreation initiatives in Gaithersburg.
The Miller History Fund grant supports the second phase of the Gaithersburg History Project that delves into the history of Latine Gaithersburg, a demographic that presently accounts for approximately 29 percent of the City’s population. The ongoing project aims to research and record the important community stories – contributions, challenges, dreams, and everyday life – that are essential to sharing a fuller history of Gaithersburg. Learn more about the Gaithersburg History Project here.
“We’re delighted that the Miller History Fund has put its faith in our work, and its support will allow us to expand this phase of the Gaithersburg History Project in many meaningful ways,” said Cynthia Cowan, Community Museum Manager. “We look forward to sharing with the community the amazing histories and cultural artifacts we will be collecting during this phase.”
The Miller History Fund is made possible by an annually recurring allocation from the State’s Preservation of Cultural Arts Fund, proposed by late Senate President Emeritus Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr., for which the fund was renamed in 2021. Over five years, this grant program has invested a total of $1,000,000 to 53 historical organizations throughout Maryland.
The Miller History Fund’s core objective is to build the capacity of organizations to care for historical collections and make them accessible and relevant to the public. This year’s cohort includes organizations in six counties caring for collections spanning multiple specialties from technology, to natural history, to community oral histories.
For more information about the Gaithersburg History Project and the Community Museum, please email [email protected] or call 301-258-6160.