Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning The Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania seeks to reach a broad and diverse audience. The History Center draws from a 150-mile radius around Pittsburgh, and a third of its visitors come from outside the area, including all 50 states and many foreign countries. This grant will support educational programming for the new 10,000-square-foot Special Collections Gallery. This gallery will house approximately 5,000 objects from the museum's heritage, corporate, and household collections, as well as artifacts that highlight themes such as Working in Western Pennsylvania. The educational programs developed with these funds will carry out the five key objectives of the History center's long-range plan for collections: (1) create improved access to the collections for both staff and the general public; (2) increase public awareness of the collections; (3) increase the number of artifacts from the collections on exhibit; (4) develop programs with education staff using the collections that will address the needs and interests of the museum's audiences; and (5) determine ways of using staff expertise to conduct programs on connoisseurship and artifact care.