History is what shapes society, and for years the Bell County Historical Society has been doing its part in preserving and sharing the history of Middlesboro and the surrounding area.

The Bell County Historical Society recently received a grant through the Kentucky Local History Trust Fund for a total of $1,500. The money will be used for educational programming. While that amount may not seem all that impressive at first glance, it can go a long way in providing a small organization like the Bell County Historical Society the tools it needs to continue serving the public. The plans for the grant are looking toward developing programming for local fourth graders and their families.

The plan is to create and distribute an activity book to all fourth graders in Bell County about the history of Bell County. The book will be produced by The Bell County Historical Society.

“The Local History Trust Fund Program allows local organizations to do their best work by providing limited grant funds to do projects that help support promoting and protecting our history. This is great because it allows us, as historians, to reach a wider population and to get folks interested in history at any point in their lives. It could be a fourth grader with this activity book or an adult doing genealogical research, and just being able to help support those local history organizations in their own communities is really important,” said KHS Administrator Amanda Higgins.

The grant pool for the Kentucky Local History Trust Fund comes from people who file Kentucky state income tax and elect to make a donation when they file their taxes. This was the second grant pool. Seventeen organizations from across Kentucky received $22,217 in funding. Individual amounts range from $856 to $1,500 for projects related to collection conservation, education, promotion, exhibits and strategic planning. The Kentucky Historical Society administers the granting process.