Library Receives Grant

EUREKA SPRINGS CARNEGIE LIBRARY SELECTED FOR COMPETITIVE FEDERAL HUMANITIES GRANT

This $10,000 grant will help the library to create an oral history project which will collect, preserve, and make accessible the diverse, powerful stories of Eureka Springs community members.

We are thrilled to announce that our library has been selected as one of 200 libraries nationwide for the American Library Association’s American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries opportunity, an emergency relief program to assist libraries that have been adversely affected by the pandemic.

With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the library will use funds to anchor itself in the community as a strong humanities institution.

More than 370 libraries applied for the grant, according to ALA. View the full list of selected libraries.

The participating libraries, selected through a competitive, peer-reviewed application process, include public libraries, academic/college libraries, K-12 libraries, and tribal, special and prison libraries. The recipients represent 45 states and Puerto Rico and serve communities ranging in size from 642 residents in Weir, Kansas, to the city of Los Angeles. Libraries were chosen with an emphasis on reaching historically underserved and/or rural communities.

We are so proud and excited to be chosen for this amazing opportunity. This grant will allow our library to start an oral history collection to gather and share the diverse stories of our community members, amplifying the resilient voices of Eurekans whose stories have yet to be recorded. 

The project, led by Assistant Librarian Cass Schallhorn, will highlight under-represented groups within Eureka Springs and record their history of experience within the community and challenges they may have faced during the pandemic.  Recordings and transcripts of these interviews will be made available online for viewing and, eventually, other community members will have the opportunity to add their own stories to the collection as well.

American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries is an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Please contact the library with your recommendations for those whose oral histories should not be missed at 479-253-8754 or email [email protected].