Dorchester Historical Society given $15k grant to expand its Veterans Project

So far, the Dorchester Historical Society has researched the lives of 43 World War I veterans from Dorchester. Photo courtesy DHS.

The Dorchester Historical Society (DHS) has received a $15,000 grant that will be dedicated to its ongoing research into the lives of Dorchester-born veterans. The Veterans’ Heritage Grant, allocated by the Massachusetts State Historical Records Advisory Board, will allow DHS, through its Veterans Project, to produce biographies of neighborhood residents who served in the military that will be made available online.

“This generous support from the Massachusetts SHRAB will allow the Society to include many more of Dorchester’s service members in its research,” said DHS president Earl Taylor in a press release. “Building on our initial Veterans Project, it will allow us to develop a fuller picture of the lives of Dorchester’s residents and the roles they have played in serving our nation.”

To date, the project, which was initiated as part of the centennial commemoration of World War I, has resulted in biographies of 43 veterans from Dorchester, excerpts of which have been featured in the Reporter over the past year. The injection of funding will expand the scope of this research, with the goal of telling the stories of Dorchester residents who served in conflicts from colonial times to the 21st century. A special interest of the project is illuminating the lives of those often “left out of the records,” including women and service members of color.


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