The Chisholm Trail Museum was recently awarded $16,686 through the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant program.

The grant will fund the development of two traveling trunks and multiple on-site living history programs.

The trunks will be themed “Trappers, Traders and Hunters of the Plains” and “The Cattle Trails.”

Both trunks will be available for check-out and used with student groups and the general public on-site.

“The education trunks will have children’s books for elementary students, hands-on items related to the topics for teachers to explore with the students, images and more,” said Jason Harris, executive director of the Chisholm Trail Museum.

“Basically they will be like a mini hands-on exhibit in a box.”

In addition, the museum will develop a line of both firstand third-person living history programs to engage audiences through active participation and storytelling.

The living history items acquired through the grant will help the museum to develop on-site programs that cover the cattle drive, surveying in Oklahoma, domestic life through the ages, agriculture and more, Harris said.

“With the support of the Oklahoma Historical Society’s Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant, the Chisholm Trail Museum will develop and implement a slate of new educational programs for students and the public, allowing us to build capacity and better serve the public,” Harris added.

A total of just over $460,000 in grant funds will be distributed throughout Oklahoma, with projects ranging from collections care and exhibit development to strategic planning and educational programming.

“This is only the second year for this grant program. As organizations wrap up their grant projects from last year and as we see the quality of the applications that came in for this grant cycle, it is clear that there is a strong need for this type of grant program,” said Nicole Harvey, OHS grants administrator.

The Oklahoma Heritage Preservation Grant Program is a grants-in-aid program offered by the Oklahoma Historical Society with a goal of encouraging 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, the program offers funding ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 for projects focused on collections, exhibits and programming.

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

For more information visit www.okhistory.org/grants.

Locally, Harris said the grants will benefit many.

“The traveling trunks will be available to any teacher statewide to check out free of cost in the fall, as well as the hands-on programs will open to the public at the museum,” Harris said.