The Cyrus Dallin Art Museum has received a $50,000 grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts via the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. These funds enable the museum to redesign its entryway and the Indigenous Peoples gallery, as well as digitize the museum’s archives and build an online searchable database. Both projects are expected to be completed by May 2022.

“This grant is truly transformational for the Dallin Museum. These high-priority projects will enhance the museum’s inclusivity and accessibility and promote continued community conversations about the impact of Cyrus Dallin’s work in both the past and present,” says Heather Leavell, museum director/curator.

The grant was facilitated by Representative Sean Garballey, and assisted by a team from the museum including Chair of the Friends of the Dallin Museum Stephen Gilligan, Board of Directors President Geri Tremblay, Nancy Blanton, Dan Johnson, Andrew Jay, James Charnley, and Heather Leavell.

“The Dallin Museum sincerely thanks Representative Garballey for his leadership in securing this important grant,” says Tremblay. The Museum is also grateful to the Town of Arlington and the Municipal Board of Trustees for their ongoing collaboration and support.

Redesign of Entry and Indigenous Peoples Gallery

The Museum is honored to have received an additional $5,000 Strategic Partnership Grant from Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area to support the redesign of its entry and Indigenous Peoples Gallery!

Museum staff are working with Indigenous stakeholders to ensure that these spaces accurately represent the histories, cultures, and resilience of those who were the subjects of Cyrus Dallin’s works. This project will also align the Museum’s interpretive themes with its ongoing educational programs focused on Dallin’s advocacy and Indigenous views on history and healing. The result will be a more inclusive and welcoming environment for visitors that reflects multiple experiences and perspectives.

Museum staff have engaged Proun Design of Somerville, Mass. to assist with concept development and design. The project scope includes revised floor plans, new pedestals, refreshed paint finishes, colorful window graphics, interpretive panels, an audio program, and an interactive display prompting visitors to make connections between the past and present. These improvements will enhance visitor experience by making the spaces more engaging, visitor-centered, and self-directed.

Archive Digitization and Access

The Dallin Museum’s archive is the country’s leading repository for historical research on the life and legacy of Cyrus Dallin and the Dallin family. It comprises more than 6,000 items including photographs, correspondence, sketches, journals, exhibition catalogs, and news clippings related to Cyrus Dallin, as well as poems and manuscripts written by his wife Vittoria Dallin.

The Museum is working with Museum & Collector Resource of Concord, Mass. to scan and catalog its archive, and provide public access to these materials via a searchable database at Dallin.org. This project will preserve these invaluable cultural resources and make them accessible to community members, local historians, scholars, and genealogists seeking to better understand the legacy of Cyrus Dallin and the Dallin family in Arlington and beyond.

For more information about these projects, please contact Museum director/curator Heather Leavell at hleavell@dallin.org.

Photo courtesy of the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum