Joint applicants Ohio University and Sunday Creek Associates (on behalf of the Little Cities microregion) learned recently that a second submission to the National Endowment for the Humanities “Interpreting America’s Heritage” planning grant program was successful. NEH will award $45,000 to Ohio University to create a plan for an audio pod tour that tells the story of the Little Cities to the traveling public on-land and on-line. Sunday Creek Associates and the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council will be paid for their coordination and research role in the project.

The nationally competitive grants program requires a story of national significance in America’s history to be eligible. The grant proposal highlighted three interrelated stories from the Hocking Valley Coal Era to make this claim: the significant role of the miners of the region in shaping the nation’s early labor movement; the provocative story of barriers and accomplishment by African American miners and immigrants during this period; and one of the nation’s early environmental clean-up projects staged here during the 1930’s as WPA and CCC workers fought underground mine fires and created Ohio’s only National Forest.

The planning grant will engage national and state scholars in analyzing local research; utilize media and performance experts to develop one prototype audio pod; and create a plan for at least 12 audio pods to be developed via an implementation grant that will be available in 2011. The initial grant will also make plans for an associated web site that will be the portal for downloading or listening to the pods. This site will also provide information about the site and story featured in the pod, including photos, research and lesson plans. If funded, the implementation project will include six communities in the microregion and Wayne Forest sites near those communities. Travelers will listen to audio pods on MP3 devices, loaned headsets and car CD players. The communities tentatively identified are Eclipse, Nelsonville, Haydenville, New Straitsville, Shawnee and Rendville.

The project’s “principal investigator” is Dr. Frans Doppen from the OU College of Education who will lead humanities scholars in their review of the project. Dr. Bernhard Debatin from the Scripps School of Journalism at OU will serve as a Co-Principal Investigator leading the project’s media team. John Winnenberg of Sunday Creek Associates will serve as project coordinator and Cheryl Blosser of the Little Cities Council will serve as local research expert. Chelsie Arrowood, a past student volunteer for Little Cities and the Monday Creek Restoration Project, will serve as a graduate assistant for the planning project.