News Release
January 31, 2006
Historic Denver And The Molly Brown House Museum Receive "Save Our History" Grant From The History Channel®; Project Involves Montclair School Of Academics & Enrichment And East High School Students
The History Channel this month awarded Historic Denver and the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver with a $7,500 "Save Our History" grant to partner with local schools for the "Reviving Colfax: Main Street Colorado" project to preserve Colfax Avenue, one of Denver's most significant streets.
Historic Denver is one of 26 history organizations that will receive "Save Our History" community preservation grants. These will fund innovative, educational projects designed to bring communities together, actively engage children in the preservation of their local history and communicate the importance of saving local history for future generations.
The History Channel created the "Save Our History" Grant Program as an extension of the Save Our History philanthropic initiative and is committed to inspiring and motivating local communities to learn about and take an active role in the preservation of their past through projects involving artifacts, oral histories, sites, museums or landmarks that exist in their own neighborhoods.
In the first two years of the National Grant Program, The History Channel has received funding requests exceeding $8 million from history organizations representing 50 states and the District of Columbia. In 2006, The History Channel will have contributed more than $500,000 in grant funding toward this cause.
Historic Denver and the Molly Brown House Museum have engaged approximately 120 students, ranging from third through twelfth grade, on a project designed to connect students in an on-going citywide effort to revitalize and restore one of Denver's most historic streets, Colfax Avenue. Colfax is the longest commercial street in the United States and represents an array of historical periods. However, over the last several decades the street has been in decline.
Students from both Montclair School of Academics & Enrichment and East High School will research the local history and heritage of Colfax Avenue, produce text and provide photographs for a booklet entitled "Colfax: Colorado's Main Street." The booklet will be distributed to 6,000 participants in the Colfax Marathon, a city-supported event created to raise awareness for Colfax and generate support for its revitalization. In May, students will exhibit posters at the Marathon Expo for more than 20,000 community members attending the marathon. Finally, students from the lead schools will act as tour guides to those attending the Marathon Expo, including 30 classes from local Denver schools.
ABOUT SAVE OUR HISTORY EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
In 2004, The History Channel developed a comprehensive Educators' Manual containing standards-based lesson plans, enrichment activities, and resources that help provide teachers in elementary, middle and high school with valuable materials that provide a connection between local and national history. To date, more than 20,000 educators at schools, youth groups, history museums, historic sites, and civic agencies have used the educational materials to teach over 250,000 students about their local history and the importance of preserving it.
ABOUT HISTORIC DENVER & THE MOLLY BROWN HOUSE MUSEUM
Historic Denver is Colorado's largest private preservation organization. Formed to save the famed Molly Brown House from demolition, the organization now advocates for the preservation of Denver's unique historical resources, including commercial and civic structures, sacred landmarks and residential areas. Historic Denver also continues to own and operate the Molly Brown House Museum, one of the city's premier attractions. For more information visit www.historicdenver.org or www.mollybrown.org.
THE HISTORY CHANNEL
Now reaching more than 88 million Nielsen subscribers, The History Channel®, "Where the Past Comes Alive®," brings history to life in a powerful manner and provides an inviting place where people experience history personally and connects their own lives to the great lives and events of the past. The History Channel earned six News and Documentary Emmy® Awards and previously received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's "Save Our History®" campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel web site is located at www.History.com. Press Only: For more information and photography please visit us on the web at www.historychannelpress.com.
For more information, contact David Lee Edelman, 212-642-7718 or david.lee@edelman.com; or Jenna Farkas, The History Channel, 212-210-9184 or jenna.farkas@aetn.com.