The Delaware Humanities Forum (DHF) has invited librarians, historians, archivists and other representatives of non-profit organizations to apply for funding as part of its new program, the Delaware Industrial History Initiative (DIHI), supported in part by the We the People program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The goal of DIHI is to document digitally Delawareans' experiences with industrialization and industrial decline, such as changes in agriculture and aquaculture, and environmental, urbanization, and immigration patterns. Proposals will be accepted through March 31, 2010. 

Says Delaware Humanities Council Vice Chairman Erik Rau, "Industrialization is one of the few common experiences linking together virtually every human being on the globe. We are, and have been, both producers and consumers, knitted together through broadening networks of exchange and communication." DHF sees globalization as merely the most recent chapter of industrialization-including the regional and global migration of industries. Rau adds, "Industries have life cycles. Finance and technology-and along with them workers, skills, livelihoods, resources, environmental change, waste, risk, and culture-move in complex and unpredictable ways, fickle with its favor. But our most direct experience with industrial change-both growth and decline-occurs on the local level, where we share common experiences with friends and family, co-workers and neighbors."

 

 

"DHF is in an excellent position to serve not only as a 'patron' to our grant recipients, but also as a clearinghouse for ideas and materials, while at the same time facilitating collaboration among sometimes disparate organizations," says Executive Director Marilyn Whittington.  Noting some obvious synergies the DIHI program could foster-universities helping local historical societies identify and interpret cultural materials; libraries with resources in need of preservation partnering with museum collections specialists; tourism organizations sponsoring a project that can ultimately serve to draw visitors to Delaware-she adds, "At DHF we have long connected people, cultures and ideas. Now we hope to connect some of Delaware's heritage agencies, who have historically been isolated from one another, by offering technological assistance and matching funds."

 

Programming supported by DIHI can include digital exhibits, podcasts, and other topically relevant digital artifacts that can be accessed on the internet. Grants of up to $7,000 will be made to successful applicants. The National Endowment for the Humanities, the source of DIHI funding, requires participants to match the funds that they request. In-kind resources, including any equipment and supplies purchased primarily to participate in DIHI, can serve for the purposes of the match.
The DIHI initiative will exploit Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, so that exhibits can leverage its cartographic resources in new and creative ways, including plotting geologic and demographic information (ethnography; income) to compare history to today.  Furthermore, grantees will be expected to adhere to the California Digital Library's recommendations for digital preservation, as well as any additional uniformity guidelines laid out in DHF's "Standards for Digitized Artifacts."  Technical support can be made available to resolve digitization, preservation, and indexing issues. Financial support can be made toward these ends as part of the grant request. Digitized artifacts will remain the property of the participants, and DHF will ensure proprietary materials remain so while in DHF's virtual possession.

DHF will make funding decisions and announce them by April 16, 2010.  Programs must be up and running by March 31, 2011.

 

DHF believes that industrial history makes for rich humanities reflection, noting that it is: "about who we are within the world of work, technology, and commerce, and where we want to go." Because DIHI will capture the experience of Delawareans, across the different industries of all three counties and over time, the project also dovetails with DHF's current humanities theme-civic discourse-and has enabled DHF to apply for funding through the We the People program of the National Endowment for the Humanities (a program designed to encourage and enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history, culture, and democratic principles).  Says Program Officer Catherine Homsey, "Delaware's industrial journey is not just about what industries have risen and fallen, but also about how our civic leaders have facilitated and responded to changes in our industrial landscape."

Delaware provides a particularly interesting vantage point for a reflection on industrial history. Although Delawareans' experience with the chemical and finance industries are well known, tremendous diversity exists within the state, from industrial agriculture and aquaculture to renewable energy production. Moreover, the state is small, and the intimacy of residents' experiences with the ebb, flow, and consequences of the state's industries is more readily accessible to historical rendering and more recognizable to the average citizen, who may need look no further than his neighbor for a contrasting perspective. Geographically, Delaware straddles the Mason-Dixon Line, the colloquial boundary between the industrial North and agricultural South.  Delaware's experience challenges this formulation by juxtaposing historical dichotomies like urban and rural, manufacturing and agriculture, free and slave labor, and modern and traditional upon which the standard narrative about modernization-featured in many student text books-depends. The experience of workers has also changed along with the work, as have their origins. Finally, having just lost its status as an auto-producing state and as a major financial center, Delaware (its government and its citizens) confronts the impact of de-industrialization and capital mobility, also a part of the industrial story.

 

Proposals (using Application Form provided on website) should be submitted by mail or email to: Catherine E. Homsey, Program and Grant Officer, Delaware Humanities Forum, 100 West Tenth St., Ste. 1009, Wilmington, DE 19801. Questions about the program should be directed to Ms. Homsey at (302) 657-0650 x14 or again by email.  Application materials can be found on the DHF website: www.dhf.org.