The County was awarded a grant from the Maryland Historical Trust for Phase II of the Recovering Identity Project in partnership with the African American Resources Cultural and Heritage Society
Frederick, Md. (February 13, 2023) - Frederick County was awarded a $35,000 grant from the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) as part of the Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Program. The grant will begin Phase II of the Recovering Identity Project in partnership with the African American Resources Cultural and Heritage Society (AARCH Society).
Recovering Identity is a project to study African American history and sites in Frederick County. Phase I, led by Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, produced a context statement and surveyed African American sites in northern Frederick County. Phase II will focus on creating a county-wide historic context study of African American history, collecting oral histories of the African American experience, and building a crowd-sourcing website to locate specific sites throughout the County. The historic context study will be broken down into thematic studies of various aspects of African American history, culture and traditions.
Recovering Identity will provide critically needed research and become the foundation for long-term preservation planning surrounding African American historic resources within Frederick County. Phase II will guide subsequent phases of intensive surveying and documenting these resources. The project will also focus on developing preservation and interpretation strategies to tell a more complete historic narrative of Frederick County.
AARCH Society and the County will hold public meetings throughout this phase to increase community interest and engagement in the project. For more information about Recovering Identity, please contact County staff at RecoveringIdentity@FrederickCountyMD.gov.