Marblehead Museum Awarded Essex Heritage Grant

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The Marblehead Museum will use a grant from the Essex National Heritage Commission to install panels that detail stories and contributions of Black, Indigenous and People of Color throughout history.

The panels are intended to be placed throughout Marblehead —with permission of the town — and feature QR codes that link to an upcoming audio tour of Black History in Marblehead, written and produced by the Marblehead Racial Justice Team.

The panels will be acquired and presented as part of a multi-year process that will total eight panels.

The Essex National Heritage Commission awarded 12 grants throughout the North Shore and Merrimack Valley as part of the commission's annual spring meeting on April 22.

The grants are intended to promote a diverse range of educational, interpretive and preservation projects that this year included an "Access and Inclusion" category.

"We recognize the importance of supporting local organizations and we are proud that we are able to award twelve partnership grants again this year," Essex Heritage CEO Annie Harris said. "Over the 23-year life of the program we have provided grants to every community in Essex County — and we know that this seed money greatly impacts the region by leveraging more investments in the Essex National Heritage Area."

The 24-by-18 foot panels will consist of text and images and will feature consistent graphic design to encourage connections among the signs. A map of their locations and further information about each topic will be included on the museum's website.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)