Mars and AMERICAN HERITAGE® Chocolate Award Grants for Chocolate History Research

In a move to celebrate two decades of support for American history institutions, Mars and AMERICAN HERITAGE® Chocolate awarded six grants totaling $52,800 at the annual Heritage Chocolate Society Gala Dinner in Washington, D.C. The Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Chocolate History Grants are designed to support research, preservation, and education efforts focused on the history of chocolate production and consumption in the United States. This year's recipients include museums, universities, and historical societies across the country. 'Preserving the rich history of chocolate in America is a passion project for our team,' said Jane Smith, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Mars. 'We're honored to partner with the Heritage Chocolate Society to ensure these important stories are captured and shared with future generations.' The grant recipients include: - International Slavery Museum (Baltimore, MD) - $12,800 to fund an exhibit on the role of enslaved labor in early American chocolate production - University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA) - $10,000 to support research on the evolution of chocolate processing technology - Winterthur Museum (Winterthur, DE) - $9,000 to conserve and digitize historical chocolate-related artifacts - Monticello (Charlottesville, VA) - $8,000 to develop educational programming on Thomas Jefferson's chocolate consumption - Chocolate Museum of America (Chicago, IL) - $7,000 to create an interactive exhibit on the cultural significance of hot chocolate - Smithsonian National Museum of American History (Washington, D.C.) - $6,000 to fund oral history interviews with pioneering American chocolatiers According to the press release, the grants are part of Mars' longstanding commitment to preserving and sharing the history of chocolate in the United States. The company has provided over $1 million in funding to support these efforts since the Forrest E. Mars, Jr. Chocolate History Grants program was established in 2006.