The Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) recently announced that the Chisholm Trail Museum, Inc. has been awarded a grant through the Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program.

“The Chisholm Trail Museum already provides invaluable educational activities for our local community,” said Sen. Darcy Jech, Kingfisher.

“These grant funds will enable a continuation and expansion of the interpretation and education this museum provides.”

Added House Rep. Mike Dobrinski of Okeene: “This museum is very important to people in my House district and to anyone interested in the history of our nation and the development of the West.”

“I’m grateful to the Oklahoma Historical Society for this grant funding that will help museum staff continue to tell the story of the pioneers, cowboys and many others who followed the trail.”

Chisholm Trail Museum received $20,000 for a project titled “Chisholm Trail Village Assessment and Improvements,” which will inventory, assess and evaluate the educational props and collections housed in the museum’s village bank, church and school.

This will expand interpretation in each building by securing additional props and resources for visitor-led exploration and staff-facilitated engagement.

Additionally, the museum will create and install a series of interpretative exhibit panels focusing on the topics associated with each building.

“We are excited to make some significant improvements to our historical buildings,” said Jason Harris, Chisholm Trail Museum executive director.

“This grant will let us update exhibit components, implement new educational opportunities and provide a mechanism to grow our relationship with area schools.”

The OHS will distribute over $575,000 in grant funds, with projects ranging from collections care and strategic planning to exhibit development and educational programming.

“These grant funds continue to empower local communities to collect, preserve and share their history for future generations of Oklahomans with over 150 projects funded to date,” said Nicole Harvey, director of strategic initiatives and grants administrator for the OHS.

The Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program is a grants-in-aid program offered by the Oklahoma Historical Society to encourage the collection, preservation and sharing of Oklahoma history at the grassroots level in all parts of the state.

Open to tribal and municipal governments and not-for-profit historical organizations located in Oklahoma and registered with the Oklahoma secretary of state, this grants program offers funding ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 for projects focused on collections, exhibits and programming.

Applications for this annual program open in the fall and award announcements are made in January.