Preserving the Collections of the State Library of Massachusetts through Preservation Enclosures and Environmental Monitoring

Recipient: Johnson, Elvernoy (Boston, MA 02133 USA) in affiliation with Massachusetts State Library

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of preservation supplies and environmental monitoring equipment, in accord with recommendations made in a recent NEH-supported preservation assessment. The library houses an extensive collection of publications, maps, and documents dealing with the political and cultural history of Massachusetts from the early 1800s to present.

Description: The State Library of Massachusetts requests a Preservation Assistance Grant of $6,000 to purchase supplies to provide preservation quality enclosures for library collections, and to purchase environmental monitoring devices and related software. This project has two goals: 1) to address long term, systemic environmental issues by recording temperature and humidity data for library storage spaces as a basis for library administrators and facilities staff to address environmental improvements for storage spaces and 2) to address short term environmental issues at the item level by providing preservation quality enclosures for research-valuable library collections housed in storage areas that are most impacted by environmental fluctuations and light damage. The two goals of this project speak directly to short and long term priorities outlined in the library's 2009 preservation survey, made possible in part by a NEH Preservation Assistance Grant awarded in 2009.

Grant: 199607 / PG-50863-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Punishment, Politics, and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Goal: A five-week school teacher summer seminar for sixteen participants on punishment and its place in American culture.

Description: From The Gospel of Matthew to George Bernard Shaw and former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, many have remarked that how a society punishes reveals its true character. Punishment then tells us who we are. The way a society punishes demonstrates its commitment to standards of judgment and justice, its distinctive views of blame and responsibility, its understandings of mercy and forgiveness, and its particular ways of responding to evil. The Seminar I am proposing, Punishment, Politics, and Culture, will examine the nature and limits of punishment and its place in the "American story." This Seminar will address questions about punishment that go to the heart of humanistic inquiry.

Grant: 197374 / FV-50201-09,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2009

Preservation Training Support

Recipient: Johnson, Elvernoy (Boston, MA 02133 USA) in affiliation with Massachusetts State Library

Goal: Attendance by the library's preservation assistant at the year-long Preservation Management Institute, a certificate program offered through Rutgers University. This staff member is broadly responsible for maintenance of the institution's collections, which include Massachusetts historical and legal resources used by a large number of scholars, educators, family historians, and state employees.

Description: The State Library of Massachusetts requests a Preservation Assistance Grant of $6,000 to support the attendance of the library's Preservation Assistant at the Preservation Management Institute. The Preservation Management Institute, a program of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies at Rutgers University, is a year-long program that awards a certificate in preservation management upon completion of all classes and assignments. By supporting the Preservation Assistant of the State Library in her Preservation Management Institute coursework, the library increases its expertise in preservation, which will allow it to expand the services it can provide. Additionally, two products of this educational program are the completion of an institutional preservation survey and the creation of a disaster plan. These documents will be of particular interest for the State Library as the only preservation survey was completed in 2002 and no disaster plan exists.

Grant: 194009 / PG-50645-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2009

The Rule of Law: Legal Studies and the Liberal Arts

Recipient: Frank, Cathrine O (Biddeford, ME 04005 USA) in affiliation with University of New England

Goal: A five-week summer institute for twenty-five college and university faculty in American jurisprudence from a humanities perspective.

Description: The institute we are proposing will explore the meaning and consequences of the attachment to the rule of law. We will ask: What does it mean to live under the rule of law? What are the cultural conditions necessary for its possibility? And what are the distinguishing characteristics of the rule of law in the United States? The institute will engage with these questions and investigate the rule of law from the perspective of the humanities, emphasizing questions of interpretation, meaning, and value in a society, which, as Thomas Paine puts it, "law is king." At a time when scholars both in law schools and the liberal arts are turning to questions about relations between law, culture, and the humanities, this institute will also contribute to advancing the study of law as a discipline of the liberal arts.

Grant: 191966 / EH-50168-08,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Institutes for College and University Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2008

Preservation Assessment of the Law Library

Recipient: Norvelle, Astrid (Tucson, AZ 85721-0176 USA) in affiliation with University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ 85721 USA)

Goal: A preservation assessment of special collections housed at the university's law library. The collections focus on Indian, Mexican, and immigration law, environmental and water rights law, and historical Arizona materials.

Description: The Rogers College of Law Library applies for grant funds to engage a preservation librarian/consultant to conduct a general preservation assessment of our special collections. The collections include: a special purchase of 16th-19th-century Roman/canon law treatises, general and local legal historical and biographical material, including unique Arizona resources such as documents from "Arizona v. California," the long-running Colorado River water case, and law college archives. No other assessment has been conducted and the timing for this proposed study is critical. The law college is preparing for a complete renovation of the library to begin in late 2007. The consultant's report will be invaluable for informed decision-making in renovation planning for new facilities and in long-term future preservation actions.

Grant: 184284 / PG-50037-07,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2007

Punishment, Politics, and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Goal: A five-week seminar for fifteen school teachers on the role of punishment in law, politics, society, and culture.

Grant: 176868 / FV-50095-05,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2005

Preservation of State and Federal Primary Legal Materials

Recipient: Reynolds, Diane C (San Gabriel, CA 91776-3907 USA) in affiliation with Los Angeles County Law Library (Los Angeles, CA USA)

Goal: A preservation assessment of the library's entire collection with special attention to federal and California primary law materials.

Grant: 172387 / PA-50971-05,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2005

Punishment, Politics and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Goal: A five-week summer seminar for school teachers on the role of punishment in law, politics, society, and culture.

Grant: 171850 / FV-50058-04,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2004

Punishment, Politics, and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Goal: A six-week seminar for 15 college teachers on the role of punishment in American law, politics, society, and culture.

Grant: 165499 / FS-50015-03,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for College Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2003

Punishment, Politics, and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Goal: A five-week seminar for school teachers on the role of punishment in law, politics, society, and culture.

Grant: 114437 / FV-22444-02,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2002

Hard Time in America

Recipient: Segaller, Stephen (New York, NY 10001 USA) in affiliation with Educational Broadcasting Corporation

Goal: Scripting of a two-hour documentary film exploring the history of the prison in the United States from its emergence in the late eighteenth century to the present day.

Grant: 116863 / GN-30073-02,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2002

History, Tradition, and Democratic Theory in the State Constitutions

Recipient: Kincaid, John (Easton, PA 18042-1785 USA) in affiliation with Lafayette College (Easton, PA 18042 USA)

Goal: A four-week national institute for 30 school teachers on the constitutional tradition in the American states.

Grant: 143677 / ES-23150-01,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Institutes for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2001

Punishment, Politics, and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Grant: 151636 / FS-23252-01,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for College Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2001

The Supreme Court Project

Recipient: Sheff, Jody (New York, NY 10001 USA) in affiliation with Educational Broadcasting Corporation

Goal: Scripting of the second episode in a proposed four-part documentary film series exploring the history of the United States Supreme Court.

Grant: 157073 / GN-26246-01,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: Media, Humanities Projects in,   Year Awarded: 2001

Arkansas Supreme Court Briefs and records Collection

Recipient: Fitzhugh, Kathryn C (Little Rock, AR 72201 USA) in affiliation with University of Arkansas, Little Rock (Little Rock, AR 72204 USA)

Goal: The purchase of supplies and environmental monitoring equipment to preserve Arkansas Supreme Court briefs and records that document the civil and legal history of the state from 1822 to 1926. (12 months)

Grant: 158286 / PA-24000-01,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation/Access Projects,   Year Awarded: 2001

Punishment, Politics and Culture

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Grant: 154723 / FV-22375-00,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 2000

Supplies for Preserving the Louisiana Supreme Court Archives

Recipient: Jumonville, Florence M (New Orleans, LA 70148 USA) in affiliation with University of New Orleans

Goal: The purchase of archival supplies to rehouse 19th-century court documents that are related to the legal, ethnic, social, and printing history of Louisiana.

Grant: 157478 / HA-20086-00,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation - Assistance Grants (ER Title Ib),   Year Awarded: 2000

The American Jury: Bulwark of Democracy

Recipient: Chavkin, Nisan (Chicago, IL 60605 USA) in affiliation with Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago

Goal: TO SUPPORT a curriculum development and demonstration project for school teachers on the American jury system.

Grant: 141932 / ED-21428-99,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Education Development and Demonstration,   Year Awarded: 1999

Law, Justice, and Morality: Readings in Contemporary Jurisprudence

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Grant: 154706 / FV-22331-99,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 1999

Law, Justice, and Morality: Readings in Contemporary Jurisprudence

Recipient: Sarat, Austin D (Amherst, MA 01002-5000 USA) in affiliation with Amherst College (Amherst, MA 01002 USA)

Grant: 154687 / FV-22289-98,   Division: Education Programs,   Program: Seminars for School Teachers,   Year Awarded: 1998