21st Century Fund "Grant Program"

 
Competitive grants of up to $1,000 are offered to Missouri historical and genealogical societies, libraries and archives for projects to compile, index, preserve and or publish local records. Since 2009 MoSGA has funded several projects throughout the state. 
  • If your local Missouri historical or genealogical society, library or archives has a project in mind to preserve and/or publish records, please encourage your society to apply for a 21st Century Fund Grant.  Grants are awarded at the annual MoSGA Conference – usually held in August.
  • To apply, download our online form, fill it in electronically or manually and mail to MoSGA, PO Box 833, Columbia, MO 65205, postmarked no later than July 1 of each year, prior to our annual meeting in August.   Click Here for the Application
  • For Guidelines, click here.  
For additional information please contact the 21st Century Fund Committee.   Awards1@MoSGA.org 
To make a donation to the 21st Century Fund grant program, click here:
You may choose donations in amounts of $10, $25, $50, or $100.   
Memorial donations to MoSGA are applied to the 21st Century Fund.
 
 
At the September 8, 2022 annual meeting, the following organization was awarded a grant:
The Bonne Terre Historical Society received $997.90 from the 21st Century Fund. The funds will help preserve and organize materials in their collection such as articles, newspapers, photographs, and other artifacts of local historical interest. At the present time, they are stored in boxes and file cabinets, and not cataloged. Funds will enable the society to purchase archival quality storage boxes. Once sorted and properly stored, materials will be catalogued and made available to researchers in the offices of the Historical Society. Contact: Shannon Sanson      https://www.facebook.com/Bonne-Terre-MO-Historical-Society-241032802712/
 
Recipients of the 21st Century Fund Grant were awarded in 2021 to:
Moniteau County Historical Society: $338.28       www.moniteau.net
Project Description:We have a number of photos and scrapbooks in need of protection and to be displayed. Some old scrapbooks that are no longer bound and in need of protection and displayed to the public. There is a collection of oversized photos to be copied and reduced in size.  In our collection we have binders that need to be labeled and indexed. Also need to update shelf labels in the library. The grant would cover the cost of needed supplies to complete the above project.
 
St. Louis Genealogical Society: $1,000
Project Description: This project will digitize approximately 28 rolls of microfilm containing St. Louis funeral home records. In the mid-1970s, the St. Louis Genealogical Society (StLGS) microfilmed historical records from local churches, cemeteries, funeral homes, etc. to preserve them and make them available to researchers visiting our office. Now, almost fifty years later, we risk losing access to those records as microfilm readers break down and replacement parts are no longer available. Among the other projects we are currently involved with, we are actively focused on digitizing our microfilm as resources allow. This transfer will maintain access to these records for future researchers.
Our request is for $1,000 to digitize approximately twenty-eight (28) rolls of 16mm microfilm of the more than two hundred (200) rolls currently held in our office. We have selected a group of funeral home records that have not yet been indexed and are our earliest funeral home holdings: 1870s to early 1900s.
For a list of past recipients and the projects funded,  Click here.  
 
The Vernon County Historical Society, Nevada, MO, was excited to receive a grant of over $800 to purchase archival boxes to store the Vernon County Circuit Court records, 1855-1900.  Here are photos of volunteers assembling the boxes, and an impressive photo showing the assembled and filled boxes...ready to be shelved.