City Seeks Historian/Researcher for History Project

The Department of Parks, Recreation and Culture has released a Request for Quotes (RFQ) to commission a regional historian/researcher familiar with the people and history of Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, and Maryland to provide research services that focus on documenting and telling the stories of the City's East Asian culture. The research is part of the Gaithersburg History Project and will take place between January and December 2026. The RFQ can be found here.

According to the 2020 Census, Gaithersburg's population based on ethnicity is 31.5% White, 28.5% Hispanic/Latine of any race, 16.1% Black, 19% Asian, .2% American Indian/Alaska Native, .1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, .9% other race, and 3.8% multiple races. Gaithersburg students hail from more than 157 countries, speaking 150 languages.

According to the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS), the City's East Asian population is broken down as follows: 29.4% Chinese, 7.45% Korean, 6.6% Vietnamese, 5.9% Filipino, 1.9% Japanese, 1.9% Burmese, 1.8% Thai, .98% Taiwanese, .35% Mongolian, .34% Laotian, and .14% Indonesian.

The deliverables of the Gaithersburg History Project include reports, articles, programs, and exhibitions that can be broadly accessible via digital media, printed material, in-person and virtual experiences, traveling exhibitions, and educational programs that can be taken to schools, libraries, youth centers, senior centers, and neighborhoods.

The budget for this project is $15,000 for all costs associated with the research including stipend, research fees, subcontractor fees, transportation, copying costs, and communications. All quotes must be emailed to [email protected]by 2 p.m. on January 15, 2026.