Community Collaboration for Heritage Preservation

Recipient: Ridgway, Ginger (Palm Springs, CA 92262 USA) in affiliation with Agua Caliente Cultural Museum

Goal: Hiring a preservation consultant to conduct a training workshop in emergency response procedures and provide advice for the purchase of basic emergency supplies for the Coachella Valley Emergency Preparedness Network. This consortium includes three historical societies, a historic house, two Native American museums, a separate tribal collection, an aviation museum, a military museum, and a modern art museum. Collectively, they hold 400 cubic feet of archaeological materials, 600 baskets, 150 paintings, 16,000 color slides, 1,500 photos, 100 maps, 25 linear feet of archival materials, 825 audio and video recordings, 3,000 volumes, and 84 periodical titles.

Description: The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum is applying for funding on behalf of the Coachella Valley Emergency Preparedness Network, a collaboration of 10 institutions. Grant funding is sought for training in emergency response procedures for historical and cultural collections, and for purchase of salvage supplies for shared repositories for emergency response in the event of disasters.

Grant: 199664 / PG-50920-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Burke Museum Environmental Monitoring Program

Recipient: Wright, Robin K (Seattle, WA 98195-3010 USA) in affiliation with Burke Museum Association (Seattle, WA 98195 USA)

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of 11 environmental monitors and climate analysis software to evaluate the stability of 41,451 objects in the museum's ethnographic collections which focus on North and South America, Oceania, and East and Southeast Asia. Additionally, a training workshop for the museum's staff in the installation and operation of the monitors and data retrieval and analysis will be conducted by an environmental preservation consultant.

Description: The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, located at the University of Washington in Seattle is the leading natural history and anthropology museum in the Pacific Northwest. This grant will support the purchase of data loggers and software needed to develop a comprehensive environmental monitoring program for the ethnology collections storage areas and for permanent and temporary galleries of the Burke Museum. This grant will also fund training for ethnology staff in the proper installation, operation, retrieval and analysis of data obtained. The Museum seeks to replace outdated hygrothermographs with state of the art preservation environment monitors (PEM2) from the Image Permanence Institute (IPI). Improving environmental conditions for the Burke Museum's ethnology collections is a critical priority and will fulfill recommendations made by conservators Barbara Roberts and Catharine Hawks in a 1992 General Conservation Assessment.

Grant: 199543 / PG-50799-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Dogon Now: Masks in Motion

Recipient: Shildkrout, Enid (Long Island City, NY 11101 USA) in affiliation with Museum for African Art

Goal: Implementation of a traveling exhibition and a publication on the art and masquerades of the Dogon people of Mali.

Description: "Dogon Now" is a traveling exhibtion of the art and masquerades of the Dogon people of Mali, 5,000 square feet in size, featuring approximately 100 objects and using video and photographs to immerse audiences in the experience of Dogon masquerades from a variety of viewpoints. It will open at the Museum for African Art in New York in mid-2011, travel to two or three other venues in North America, two in Europe, and close atthe National Museum of Mali in 2013. There will be an accompanying catalogue, 200 pages, full color illustrations.

Grant: 197133 / GI-50156-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical & Cultural Organizations Implementation,   Year Awarded: 2009

Assiniboine Indian Traditional Narratives

Recipient: DeMallie, Raymond J (Bloomington, IN 47408-3742 USA) in affiliation with Indiana University, Bloomington (Bloomington, IN 47405 USA)

Goal: Preparation of two volumes of Native American oral history narratives and an accompanying dictionary. (24 months)

Description: This project will transcribe, translate, and edit a body of texts in Nakota, the language of the Assiniboine people of the Great Plains. These narratives were tape-recorded in the 1980s from the last generation of elders who were fluent in the language and who told traditional stories. The collection represents every major community of Assiniboine speakers in the U. S. and Canada and includes virtually all genres of oral tradition. The project will make Assiniboine oral literature available for the first time: two volumes of Nakota texts with English translations and an accompanying dictionary will be produced. There is great urgency to this project because only a few speakers of Nakota, all elderly, are still able to collaborate in this work. The project is based on the collaboration among DeMallie, a cultural anthropologist, and Cumberland, and Parks, anthropological linguists, with the Assiniboine people.

Grant: 196433 / RZ-51015-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

Creating an Image Database for Access to the Philippines Ethnology Collection

Recipient: Beelitz, Paul F (New York, NY 10024-5192 USA) in affiliation with American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY 10024 USA)

Goal: The digital imaging of 11,322 ethnographic artifacts and associated data documenting the cultural history of the Philippines. Digital images and catalog information would be available in an online database.

Description: The Anthropology Division at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) requests $160,443 from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a one-year project that will dramatically improve access to its important Philippines ethnology collection, which is exceptional for its size, comprehensiveness, and level of documentation. Digital images of the 11,322 objects in the collection, and the associated data, will be made accessible via the Internet to the general public, descendant communities, educators, and researchers, who will be able to view and study the entire collection on the Anthropology Division???s Web site (http://anthro.amnh.org). The AMNH Philippines collection was systematically assembled between 1900 and 1960 by anthropologists who had a great understanding of the cultures they were investigating. The 11,322 objects in the collection represent the immense range and diversity of Philippine peoples from Luzon Island in the north to Mindanao Island in the south.

Grant: 194390 / PW-50297-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2009

Seeking the Center Place: The Mesa Verde Cultural Landscape and Pueblo Indian Homeland

Recipient: Connolly, Marjorie R (Cortez, CO 81321 USA) in affiliation with Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

Goal: Two one-week workshops for eighty school teachers on the archaeology and history of the Pueblo people in the Mesa Verde region.

Description: Seeking the Center Place is a one-week residence-based workshop for four groups of 20 school teachers. The workshop focuses on: 1) the importance of the landmarks in the Mesa Verde archaeological region, 2) the deep history and enduring vitality of Pueblo Indian people, and 3) the critically important but neglected subject matter, America's excluded past. The workshop is significant because it offers school teachers an unequaled opportunity to trace the history of one of the continent's most enduring cultural groups--Pueblo Indians--from their ancient past into the 21st century. The workshop's intellectual scope is regional, but it will focus on three specific historic landmarks: the Goodman Point Unit of Hovenweep National Monument, Sand Canyon Pueblo in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and Mesa Verde National Park--all among the world's greatest archaeological treasures and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Grant: 197501 / BH-50317-09,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Landmarks of American History,   Year Awarded: 2009

Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region: Connecting the Past with the Present through Humanities Research

Recipient: Franklin, M. Elaine (Cullowhee, NC 28723 USA) in affiliation with Crow Canyon Archaeological Center (Cortez, CO 81321 USA)

Goal: A three-week school teacher summer institute for twenty-five participants on the cultural history of the Pueblo Indian peoples of the American Southwest, from 1000 B.C. to the present.

Description: Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region is a three-week institute for 25 school teachers that will be conducted by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center from June 27 to July 17, 2010. The institute will provide American school teachers with an unequaled opportunity to trace the history of one of the continent's most enduring cultural groups--Pueblo Indians--from its deep past into the twenty-first century. The multidisciplinary field of anthropology provides the primary lens through which participants will examine both the ancient and modern Pueblo world. Authentic research experiences give participants the opportunity to learn first-hand how archaeologists conduct their work to reconstruct Pueblo history. The participation of Pueblo scholars and visits to a modern Pueblo community present a window into how Pueblo culture has endured over time and a glimpse into what Pueblo life and education practices are like today.

Grant: 197456 / ES-50288-09,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Institutes for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2009

Moquis and Kastilam: The Hopi History Project

Recipient: Sheridan, Thomas Edward (Tucson, AZ 85721-0185 USA) in affiliation with University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ 85721 USA)

Goal: The collection of Hopi oral traditions related to early encounters between the Hopi and Spanish colonizers; and the preparation for publication of a scholarly history of Hopi-Spanish relations.

Description: Moquis and Kastilam: The Hopi History Project is a formal collaboration between the University of Arizona and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona. Its primary purpose is to publish a history of Hopi-Spanish relations from 1540-1821. It will include English translations of Spanish primary documents about the Hopis of northern Arizona as well as Hopi oral traditions about the Spaniards, some of which are nearly 500 years old. These oral traditions complement, supplement, and challenge the Spanish colonial documentary record. They also give voice to the Hopis themselves. An NEH Collaborative Research Grant would allow the project to conduct ten more interviews with individual Hopi elders. It would also fund a three-day meeting with the Cultural Resources Advisory Task Team (CRATT), a group of Hopi elders representing villages and clans on all three Hopi Mesas. The Project has the potential to revolutionize the way the history of Native peoples is produced and represented around the world.

Grant: 196462 / RZ-51044-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

The Ancient Maya City

Recipient: Traxler, Loa (Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA) in affiliation with University of Pennsylvania

Goal: Planning for a traveling exhibition, a web exhibition, a publication, and programs on the Maya city of Copán.

Description: The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) will mount the traveling exhibition, The Ancient Maya City - an innovative exploration of the Classic city of Copan and its dynamic social history. Six themes encompassing contemporary Maya cities, their archaeological predecessors, and the lives of their residents will structure the exhibition display, web exhibition, accompanying catalogue and educational resources. Scheduled to open at Penn Museum in 2012 then travel to additional venues in the United States, the exhibition will involve the creative use of interactive digital technologies to engage visitors in the process of discovering the relevance of Maya history in our contemporary world. The exhibition is a formal collaboration between Penn Museum, the Honduran government???s Instituto Hondure??o de Antropolog??a e Historia, and Harvard University???s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.

Grant: 194596 / GE-50083-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical and Cultural Organizations Planning,   Year Awarded: 2009

S'abadeb (The Gifts): Pacific Coast Salish Art and Artists

Recipient: Brotherton, Barbara (Seattle, WA 98101 USA) in affiliation with Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA 98112 USA)

Goal: Implementation of a traveling exhibit and a companion website on the art and culture of the coastal Salish people.

Description: The Seattle Art Museum requests $400,000 to mount a traveling exhibition of the art and culture of the Pacific Northwest Native Coast Salish peoples. It includes 180 cultural treasures from 5500 BCE to contemporary artworks. The project is the first major show of its kind and sheds public recognition on a rich culture whose important contribution to this nation's history has often been overlooked. It will feature innovative uses of technology, including a multi-media Living Archive of songs, stories and oratory that will infuse the exhibition with the voices of the Salish people. Public programming for a wide audience will include a Native film festival, performances and demonstrations, school tours and culturally relevant curriculum materials. An audio guide will accompany the show too. Following Seattle (10/08-1/09) the show travels to the Heard Museum, Phoenix (2/09-6/09), then to the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria BC (10/09-2/10) during the Winter Olympics.

Grant: 191859 / GI-50047-08,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical & Cultural Organizations Implementation,   Year Awarded: 2008

Preserving the Political Oral History of Modern Tibet

Recipient: Goldstein, Melvyn C (Cleveland, OH 44106-7125 USA) in affiliation with Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH 44106 USA)

Goal: Development of a web site archiving 550 hours of interviews of important Tibetan politicians, with English-language transcriptions of the interviews. (24 months)

Description: The goal of this project is to preserve a unique and invaluable corpus of 378 cassette tapes (about 550 hours) that derive from interviews with important Tibetan political figures on the history of modern Tibet. The project will prepare this corpus for inclusion in a web-archive that will be permanently administered by the Library of Congress (LC). These interviews were conducted by the PI and his staff on prior NEH research projects in Tibet and in exile, and include senior former officials such as Shakabpa, Lhalu, and the Dalai Lama. Extensive work, however, needs to be done before these tapes can be included in such an archive, namely, preparing complete English transcripts of the interviews, creating an interactive online glossary for the special terminology used by the traditional Tibetan government, and marking up the transcripts in XML/Tei language for transmission to the LC. The final English transcripts will total about 10,000 pages.

Grant: 191336 / RZ-50845-08,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2008

Assiniboine Narratives

Recipient: DeMallie, Raymond J (Bloomington, IN 47408-3742 USA) in affiliation with Indiana University, Bloomington (Bloomington, IN 47405 USA)

Goal: Preparation for publication of three volumes of Native American oral history narratives. (12 months)

Description: The project will transcribe, translate, and prepare for publication a collection of tape-recorded oral narratives of the Assiniboine Indians of the North American Plains. Recorded in the 1980s, this is the largest and most representative collection of narratives documenting the language and culture of this little-known tribe who live today on reservations and reserves in Montana and Saskatchewan.

Grant: 191392 / RZ-50901-08,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2008

Siitala: Life in Balance, World in Bloom

Recipient: Hays-Gilpin, Kelley A (Flagstaff, AZ 86001 USA) in affiliation with Museum of Northern Arizona

Goal: Planning for a traveling exhibition on Hopi culture as explicated through Hopi eyes.

Description: The Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) and the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office (HCPO) are planning an exhibit about the Hopi world, entitled S?itala: Life in Balance, World in Bloom. The Hopi term s?itala (see-tah-lah) describes the ?land brightened with flowers,? a concept that metaphorically expresses the reciprocity between humans and the natural world that is necessary for all elements of life to thrive. S?itala will explain Hopi ideas about art, environment, and human aesthetic activity based on the authority of nearly 40 Hopi cultural specialists and artists who have contributed to thematic development and exhibit content. MNA is requesting $40,000 of a total project cost of $75,174 (direct costs) to convene an advisory team of Hopi cultural specialists, museum professionals, archaeologists, and anthropologists to produce draft text, begin exhibit design, and complete other tasks outlined in the narrative

Grant: 189946 / GE-50033-08,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical and Cultural Organizations Planning,   Year Awarded: 2008

A Preservation Needs Assessment for the Collections of the Department of Anthropology

Recipient: Schroeder, Sissel (Madison, WI 53706 USA) in affiliation with University of Wisconsin, Madison

Goal: A general preservation assessment and the creation of a long-term preservation plan for archaeological, ethnographic, and biological artifacts. The collections are used for research and teaching and include stone and bone tools, pottery, clay figurines, basketry, textiles, archives, maps, and photographs documenting archaeological sites from around the world.

Description: The UW-Madison Anthropology Department proposes a preservation assessment of its 20th century collections, including archaeological, ethnographic, and biological materials. The collections, dominated by archaeological materials from the Americas, consist of stone and bone tools, pottery, plant and animal remains, ethnographic materials mostly from Alaska and Brazil, biological skeletal material used in teaching, and fossil casts. It totals about 2200 cubic feet plus associated documentation. Archaeological materials include type-site collections that form the foundation of regional culture histories, while the ethnographic collections include materials no longer produced. In addition to their research significance, these materials are invaluable aids in teaching. The proposed assessment is the first step to bring these collections up to modern standards of curation and make them more accessible to humanities researchers and educators.

Grant: 189246 / PG-50249-08,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2008

Relocating and Rehousing the Museum's Ethnographic Collection

Recipient: Hughes, Elaine R (Flagstaff, AZ 86001-8348 USA) in affiliation with Museum of Northern Arizona (Flagstaff, AZ 86001 USA)

Goal: The purchase of storage furniture and the relocation of the museum's 6,882-item regional ethnographic collection to a new repository.

Description: The goal of this project is to improve the environmental conditions under which anthropology collections of the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) are housed through the purchase of museum quality cabinetry and compactor carriages, hiring of a Move Coordinator, and ongoing consultation with MNA?s consultant conservator. As a part of this goal MNA will construct a new collection center to house 1st and 2nd priority collections in 2007/08. This goal is identified as the top priority preservation need in the MNA?s 2005 Preservation Plan and in the Collections section of the MNA 2006-2011 Institutional Plan. In addition, conservation and museum consultants (IMLS, MAPII, CMAP) have identified building and storage improvements as top priorities.

Grant: 186091 / PZ-50119-07,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Stabilization Grants,   Year Awarded: 2007

Creating an Image Database of the Mexican and South American Ethnology Collection

Recipient: Beelitz, Paul F (New York, NY 10024-5192 USA) in affiliation with American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY 10024 USA)

Goal: The digital imaging of 25,021 ethnographic artifacts and associated data from Mexico and South America documenting over 200 ethnic groups from Amazonian, Andean Highlands, Gran Chaco, Mexican, and Tierra del Fuego culture areas.

Description: The Anthropology Division at the American Museum of Natural History requests $350,000 from the NEH for a two-year project that will dramatically improve access to its important Mexican and South American ethnology collection, which is exceptional for its size, comprehensiveness, and level of documentation. The captured images of the 25,201 objects in the collection, and the associated data, will be made accessible via the Internet to the general public, descendant communities, and researchers. The collection had its beginning in 1890, when Carl Lumholtz conducted the AMNH's first anthropological expedition to Mexico's Sierra Madre. Between that time and the present, numerous notable anthropologists have collected for the AMNH in Amazonia, the Andes, the Gran Chaco, and Tierra del Fuego. This project is a continuation of the AMNH's overall initiative to increase access to its anthropological collections.

Grant: 184710 / PC-50107-07,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Grants to Preserve & Create Access to Humanities Collections,   Year Awarded: 2007

Endowment for Professional Conservator at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art

Recipient: Wolf, Patricia B (Anchorage, AK 99501 USA) in affiliation with Anchorage Museum Association

Goal: Endowment to support a full-time conservator.

Description: The Anchorage Museum Foundation requests a $300,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to be matched 3:1. The Challenge Grant and its match total $1.2 million, augmenting an existing endowed conservation fund of $500,000. The earnings from this fund will underwrite a full-time conservator in perpetuity thereby providing the financial stability to ensure the long-term impact of the position. A professional conservator will work as part of an interdisciplinary curatorial team to interpret and care for our collection, ensuring that irreplaceable items are available for the education, scholarship, advancement and enrichment of generations of museum visitors.

Grant: 181319 / CH-50344-07,   Division: Challenge Grants,   Program: Challenge Grants,   Year Awarded: 2007

Rehabilitation of the Pineland Collections

Recipient: Marquardt, William H (Gainesville, FL 32611 USA) in affiliation with University of Florida Libraries

Goal: The purchase of storage furniture and supplies to rehouse 141,443 artifacts obtained from excavations conducted in 1988-95 at the Calusa Indian settlement at Pinelands, Florida, that dated to 50-1710 CE.

Description: The Florida Museum of Natural History (University of Florida) requests assistance for rehabilitating the artifacts and records associated with the Pineland Site Complex of coastal southwest Florida. Pineland was the second-largest town of the now-extinct Calusa Indians, who achieved social and political complexity, developed elaborate religious beliefs and sophisticated artwork, engaged in long-distance trade, built earthworks and canals, and demanded tribute from dozens of towns, all without having staple-crop agriculture. The collection results from Florida Museum projects from 1988 through 1995. Every aspect of the work involved public participation through volunteerism, high levels of public visitation, and public-school programming. We propose to rehabilitate the collection by logically ordering each component; resolving provenience, cataloging, and locational issues; rehousing each component using archival enclosures and containers; and creating finding aids for each component.

Grant: 186038 / PZ-50073-07,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Stabilization Grants,   Year Awarded: 2007

Inca and Spanish Imperial Transformations: Toponyms and Regional Settlement Patterns in Cuzco, Perú

Recipient: Covey, Alan (Dallas, TX 75205-1437 USA) in affiliation with Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX 75275 USA)

Goal: Archival research, the systematic collection of place names, and a regional environmental study to consider the impact of the Inca empire and then the Spanish empire on local populations in the Cuzco area of present-day Perú. (28 months)

Description: The Hanan Cuzco Toponym Survey will use NEH funds to conduct an interdisciplinary research project in Cuzco, Peru. This region was the heartland of the Inca empire, and local farming and herding populations experienced two waves of imperial transformation between AD 1400-1650. The Inca empire reshaped the economic, political and ethnic landscape of the region to facilitate the administration of its provinces, while the Spanish empire restructured the region as it was converted from an imperial core to a provincial region of their empire. The proposed project will conduct archival research, systematic collection of place-names, and a regional environmental study to consider the impacts of imperial policies on local farming populations.

Grant: 186560 / RZ-50818-07,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2007

Dogon Hip: Tradition and Modernity in Mali

Recipient: Schildkrout, Enid (Long Island City, NY 11101-1736 USA) in affiliation with Museum for African Art (Long Island City, NY 11101 USA)

Goal: Planning for a traveling exhibition and a catalog on tradition and modernity among the Dogon and their ability to adapt their culture to changing circumstances.

Description: "Dogon Hip"is a travelling exhibition of the art and contemporary material culture of the Dogon people of Mali . A near-mythic status has dominated representations of the Dogon, depicting them as unchanging and homogenous, a paradigm for African tribal authenticity. This exhibition will attempt to break this stereotype, presenting the Dogon as a people with a complex history who actively engage with each other and outsiders in evolving their culture and their lives. Through vivid displays of both contemporary and ancient Dogon sculpture, painting and drawing, textiles and clothing, masks and mask accessories, furniture, pottery, leatherwork, and archival and recent photography, the eight to nine sections of the exhbition will reveal the Dogon's adaptation of material culture over a century.

Grant: 184975 / MP-50041-07,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Museums Planning,   Year Awarded: 2007