TWHBEA is a recipient of a $20,000 grant and a $10,000 grant for Tennessee America 250 initiatives from the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial. The $20,000 grant award will be used for a digitization project focused on preserving and expanding public access to its VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse magazine collection and historic photograph archive, which together document nearly 90 years of the breed’s history and its impact on Tennessee communities. These materials capture the people, events, traditions, and evolving culture of the Tennessee Walking Horse, offering a rich visual and narrative record of the state’s agricultural and social heritage.
The $10,000 grant award will be used for the creation of a podcast series dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and sharing the living history of the Tennessee Walking Horse, drawing on the organization’s 90 years of accumulated records, experiences, and expertise. The project will prioritize recording interviews with the few surviving foundational members of the industry whose firsthand knowledge represents an irreplaceable link to Tennessee’s agricultural and cultural heritage. These voices, combined with archival research and expert commentary, will provide a rich, firsthand perspective on the breed’s development and its role in Tennessee history.
This project is funded under an agreement with the State of Tennessee administered by the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial.