Federal humanities grants go to Porter-Phelps, colleges' learning institutes

Daily Hampshire Gazette

Caesar and Peg are among several enslaved individuals and indentured servants, including two British soldiers, who lived and worked at the Forty Acres farmstead, and whose underdocumented lives should become better known through additional research that will be completed using a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The money is coming to the museum in advance of the 250th birthday of the United States in 2026 and will mostly go toward undergraduate research. It is one of three local projects sharing portions of $37.5 million being provided for 240 projects across the country. 

“When the museum was first founded, it was to tell the stories of Revolutionary heroes,” says Karen Sanchez-Eppler, who is leading the project titled “Forty Acres and the American Revolution: Stories of Independence and Servitude.” “We’ve been working for the last bunch of years to expand the narrative that tries to honor all lives lived in connection to the place.” 

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