HARRISBURG – The Bradford County Historical Society has been awarded state grants in the amount of $8,863 to help support operations and the creation of a records storage room, according to Rep. Tina Pickett (R-Bradford/Wyoming), Rep. Clint Owlett (R-Bradford/Tioga) and Sen. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford/Lycoming/Sullivan/Tioga/Union), who all advocated for the funding.
“The society does a wonderful job preserving Bradford County history, and these state grants will help them continue in their mission,” said Pickett. “Part of the funding is going toward a project that will result in making local history records more accessible to the public, which is also important.”
Specifically, the society received a $4,863 grant through the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s (PHMC) Historical and Archival Records Care Grant program, which will be used by the society to convert a former meeting room at its building in Towanda into a storage room for historical records available to the public for research.
In addition, $4,000 was awarded to the society through the PHMC Cultural and Historical Support Grant Program, which assists eligible museums and county historical societies statewide in covering general operating expenses.
“It is vital that we work to preserve our history and make it available to the public,” said Owlett. “Our historical societies operate on very small budgets with minimal staff and volunteers, so these grants are highly important for them to continue their work.”
“Our local museums and historical societies serve as the chief stewards of collections that represent our cultural and historical heritage,” Yaw said. “They also play an important role in improving the learning experiences for people of all ages. The added state support distributed by the PHMC will certainly help the Bradford County Historical Society continue to provide the highest level of public service.”
PHMC awarded nearly $2 million in support grants to 161 eligible museums and county historical societies in counties. PHMC also awarded $200,000 records care grants to 37 organizations in 20 counties.