Environmental Monitoring of the JCHS Facility

Recipient: Carr, Joseph Daniel (Madison, IN 47250 USA) in affiliation with Jefferson County Historical Society (Indiana)

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of equipment to monitor environmental conditions in a facility housing approximately 5,000 photographs, 5,000 county and city records, 2,000 items of clothing, and 1,000 Civil War artifacts. The focus of the collection is the history of the town of Madison, Jefferson County, and the surrounding area. Additionally, a conservator will train the staff of the historical society in the use of the monitoring equipment.

Description: The Jefferson County (In) Historical Society has completed a Conservation Assessment; it was conducted by Martin Radecki, from the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Using that assessment, we have developed a long term plan for the management of our collections. Our top priority is to achieve a complete understanding of our facility's environment and make needed adjustments. To that end, we will purchase 3 Temp & Humidity Data Loggers, 4 Hanwell Lux Bugs w/data loggers for monitoring light and ultra violet light, and a psychrometer. After installation, we will use these instruments to monitor the environmental conditions for the period of Jan 1, - Dec. 31, 2010. Since the present staff is not experienced in using this technology, we will bring Radecki back to Madison for two days to set the equipment up and teach us how to use it. At the end end of the period, we plan to use Radecki again to analyze the data and make recommendations. Total project cost is $6,372.

Grant: 199457 / PG-50713-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Preserving a Unique Historical Record: The Archives of the Austen Riggs Center

Recipient: DiFazio, Robert (Stockbridge, MA 01262 USA) in affiliation with Austen Riggs Center, Inc.

Goal: The purchase of archival supplies and storage furniture to preserve 600 linear feet of administrative records documenting the treatment of mental illness in the United States from the early 20th century to the present. Founded in 1919, the Austin Riggs Center pioneered alternative approaches to traditional custodial state mental hospitals.

Description: The grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities would support the purchase of storage cartons, shelving and other supplies to remove at-risk archival records from danger and to begin the process of organizing the collection. The purchase of these materials will enable the Austen Riggs Center to act on the immediate steps recommended in the recent preservation assessment. Riggs has earned an important place in the history of medicine and is an essential chapter in the history of both psychiatry and psychoanalysis in America. It is the only remaining institution of its kind in the United States and the historical records of other similar institutions have, in many instances, been lost. Since Riggs continues to thrive, there is an opportunity to preserve and organize its rich archival holdings and to procure additional materials that relate to Riggs history and the history of similar institutions.

Grant: 199461 / PG-50717-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Chambers Library Collection Assessment and Disaster Recovery Plan

Recipient: McNeely, Bonnie (Edmond, OK 73034 USA) in affiliation with University of Central Oklahoma

Goal: Funding supports a preservation assessment that will include recommendations for improving handling and storage practices and a one-day workshop on emergency preparedness and disaster response.

Description: A preservation assessment report with short and long term priorities will help the library staff incorporate best practices for the conservation of print, microform, and media materials in the UCO Chambers Library. Staff training and the development of a Disaster Recovery Plan by library staff should help the library respond quickly should an emergency response be needed to preserve the library collections.

Grant: 199466 / PG-50722-10,   Category: Library Science, Archival Management, and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

The Chickasaw Nation Archives Collection Preservation Assessment

Recipient: Hudson, Amanda (Ada, OK 74820 USA) in affiliation with Chickasaw Nation (Ada, OK 74821-1548 USA)

Goal: A preservation assessment of approximately 150 linear feet of archival holdings, along with the purchase of preservation supplies. The materials include oral histories, maps, photographs, correspondence, and family genealogies documenting the history and culture of the Chickasaw Nation from the early 1800s to present.

Description: The National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant will support two activities. The first will be preservation site survey/conservation management consultation of the current archives collection housed in the Chickasaw Nation Department of Libraries, Archives and Collections. The second activity will purchase preservation and storage supplies, including acid-free archival boxes, interleaving paper, archival file folders and any other supplies recommended by the consultant to support preservation of the library's collection.

Grant: 199467 / PG-50723-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Purchase of Storage Furniture and Preservation Supplies

Recipient: Welles, Anne (Chicago, IL 60659 USA) in affiliation with Chicago Film Archives

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of shelving and supplies to house 7,800 films in 40 collections that date from 1903 to 1990. The corpus includes documentaries, home movies, amateur films, and a variety of other genres, including educational, industrial, commercial, avant-garde, and travel films that especially document the Chicago region and the Midwest.

Description: Based on the recommendation of a 2007 collections and facility assessment supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance grant, CFA seeks funding for additional archival horizontal shelving and small gauge archival film cans/reels.

Grant: 199469 / PG-50725-10,   Category: Museum Studies or Historic Preservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Conservation Survey of Paintings Collection

Recipient: Evans, Douglas (Greensburg, PA 15601 USA) in affiliation with Woods-Marchand Foundation (Greensburg, PA 15601-1898 USA)

Goal: A conservation survey of 489 oil paintings from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The collection of fine and decorative American art contains nationally recognized works, such as Rembrandt Peale's "Porthole Portrait of George Washington" and Mary Cassatt's "Mother and Two Children," as well as a unique assembly of art from southwestern Pennsylvania. Exhibits, publications, and educational programming highlight significant developments in American art from the colonial to the contemporary periods, as well as reflect state and regional history within the national context.

Description: Working with a conservator, Museum staff will reevaluate the paintings identified in the Museum's most recent survey (1994) and prioritize needs outlined in the Museum's conservation plan. This reevaluation and prioritization will assist the Museum in seeking additional funds for conservation.

Grant: 199471 / PG-50727-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Comprehensive Conservation Assessment of the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection

Recipient: Low, William (Lewiston, ME 04240 USA) in affiliation with Bates College

Goal: Hiring three conservators with experience in books and bound materials, works on paper, and objects to assess the work and collections of American modernist painter and writer Marsden Hartley.

Description: The Bates College Museum of Art proposes to contract three conservators to conduct a comprehensive assessment of its Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection. This unique collection of Maine's most renowned artist comprises drawings, oil sketches, manuscripts, letters, poetry, photographs, studio objects, and Hartley's personal collection of art, photographs, jewelry, textiles, and ceramics. The collected works and effects of this leading American modernist have become increasingly important to the fields of art history and American studies and the collection's variety is part of what makes it interesting to a range of scholars. The proposed assessment will assist in ongoing efforts to preserve the collection, help to improve access to the collection and is one of the early steps necessary to prepare for the first comprehensive exhibition and publication of the Hartley collection.

Grant: 199477 / PG-50733-10,   Category: Art History and Criticism,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Assessment of the D.J. Angus Photograph Collection

Recipient: Richard, Nancy (Allendale, MI 49401 USA) in affiliation with Grand Valley State University

Goal: Hiring a conservator to conduct an evaluation of the D. J. Angus Photograph Collection. The assessment will emphasize storage and environmental conditions and recommend best practices for digital reformatting. Approximately 2,000 prints (1902-1962) are adhered to now disbound photo album pages. Angus (1887-1966) was a pioneer in electrical engineering and manufacture, and his collection documents engineering feats and construction and disasters such as floods and tornados, and also includes travel photos and family photographs.

Description: The Grand Valley State University Special Collections and University Archives is seeking funding in the form of a $6,000 grant to hire a photograph conservator. The purpose of the grant would be to conduct an overall evaluation of the photographic materials in the D.J. Angus Photograph collection including the storage and display areas. This assessment will provide a more in depth evaluation of the proper storage conditions and environment needed to improve the housing of the collection with particular focus on the 35mm negatives and the 16mm films. The evaluation would also provide recommendations in best practices for creating sustainable digital collections, reformatting for access, and care and handling of materials during digitization.

Grant: 199487 / PG-50743-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Montgomery County, Texas, Historical Record Project

Recipient: Adamick, Barbara G (Conroe, TX 77301 USA) in affiliation with Montgomery County, Texas

Goal: Funding supports a preservation assessment, staff training, and the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment to ensure proper care for the county's historical records. Materials primarily include judicial case records, some dating back to the Republic of Texas (1836-45).

Description: The project will provide a consultant to review the preservation needs of the records, train the staff in handling these records and provide skills necessary for the staff to preserve the records for public access. Our goals are to: 1) Gain knowledge of how to best preserve the pre-1900 historical documents from further loss or injury; 2) Revise policies, methods and conditions to provide the proper environment for all material filed with the District Clerk's office, both historical and contemporary; and 3) Improve public access to these historical documents once they have been imaged, indexed and filed, thereby making them available to view or copy by the public.

Grant: 199491 / PG-50747-10,   Category: Public Administration,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

General Preservation Assessment of the Rare Book Collection of the Library of the Leo Baeck Institute

Recipient: Evers, Renate (New York, NY 10011 USA) in affiliation with Leo Baeck Institute, Inc. (New York, NY 10021 USA)

Goal: A preservation assessment of a collection of approximately 5,000 rare books, primarily in the field of German Judaica, and the purchase of protective boxes for 21 16th-century books in the collection.

Description: The grant would support two activities. The first activity would be the overall preservation assessment of the rare book collection of the Leo Baeck Institute. This assessment would be used to prepare short term and long term recommendations and guidance for preservation, housing, and environmental conditions. This assessment will be conducted by the Book Conservator Nelly Balloffet of Paper Star Associates, Inc., Ossining, NY, a company for book and paper conservation and library services. The second activity that the grant would support is the purchase of protective boxes for the rarest books in the collection, which were published between 1501 and 1597, in many cases the only copies in the United States.

Grant: 199500 / PG-50756-10,   Category: European History,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

The College of New Jersey Library Archival Collection Preservation Needs Assessment

Recipient: Beaber, Patricia (Ewing, NJ 08628-0718 USA) in affiliation with College of New Jersey

Goal: A preservation assessment of the library's archival and published collections documenting the history of the college and the local and state history of New Jersey.

Description: If we receive this grant, we will hire a professional consultant to conduct an in depth preservation needs assessment of our Library Archives and Special Collections. From this consultation we will receive assistance in drafting a long range plan for our humanities materials. These materials document the history of the college(the oldest public teacher training college in New Jersey), the history of teacher education, local and state history, genealogy, and a large range of historical textbooks. We are especially interested in determining sound policies and practices for the care and use of the materials, improving environmental conditions, developing emergency plans, and developing plans to make our collections more accessible yet still safe. A small part of the grant will be used to purchase archival care and storage materials.

Grant: 199501 / PG-50757-10,   Category: Humanities,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Business History Collections Preservation Project

Recipient: Schwarting, Paulette F (Richmond, VA 23220 USA) in affiliation with Virginia Historical Society (Richmond, VA 23221 USA)

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of preservation supplies for unique business history publications from the society's general collections, identified as physically at risk in a previous collection survey. Examples include a 19th-century trade association volume, a Civil War-era economic statistical report, and an 1890s polemical pamphlet on a proposed grocery tax in Virginia.

Description: The Virginia Historical Society (VHS) respectfully requests a $6,000 NEH grant to rehouse a portion of the business history holdings of the VHS. This grant will support the preservation of published business history materials which are housed in the general collections of the library of the Virginia Historical Society. An item level survey has been prepared by the project director which notes the exact number and type of preservation housing required. Virginia was founded as an economic venture by the Virginia Company of London in 1607. Our business history collections trace the economic story of Virginia- and the country- from this point through the present day, serving as a lens to understand our national economic history from Jamestown through the World Wars and into the global service economy.

Grant: 199511 / PG-50767-10,   Category: American History,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Assessing Two Centuries-Old Humanities Collections of the Hampden-Sydney College Library

Recipient: Gigliotti-Guridi, Chandra L (Hampden-Sydney College, VA 23943 USA) in affiliation with Hampden-Sydney College (Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943 USA)

Goal: Funding supports a preservation needs assessment of two special collections that have recently been moved into a new library building, and the purchase of preservation supplies as recommended by the consultant; the assessment will address current storage conditions and long-term care.

Description: Hampden-Sydney College, a small private liberal arts college in south central Virginia, proposes to hire a consultant to conduct a preservation needs assessment of two historical collections in its Library: the UPLS Collection offers insight into nineteenth century history, life and humanities study, and the Rare Book and Manuscript Collection includes a number of rare documents that provide a broader view of human endeavor over many centuries. We request funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities to cover the fees and expenses of a preservation specialist from Lyrasis (formerly SOLINET) to assess these two collections and create plans for their restoration and preservation. We anticipate the project to begin when funds are available in January 2010 and to be able to render a final report in July 2011. With grant funds, we can assure these works will be available for our students, humanities scholars, and the community for generations to come.

Grant: 199513 / PG-50769-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Formal Risk Assessment for Musselman Library, Gettysburg College

Recipient: Ward, Amy (Gettysburg, PA 17325 USA) in affiliation with Gettysburg College

Goal: A formal risk assessment of the library that will build on existing emergency preparedness and disaster response planning and identify costs associated with the mitigation of risk, so that these costs may be incorporated into the annual budget. The Musselman Library's general collections support undergraduate and faculty teaching and research; in addition, the library holds special collections of rare books, manuscripts, college archives, maps, oral history tapes and transcripts, and Asian art.

Description: A Preservation Assistance Grant would support the contracting of a professional to conduct a formal risk assessment for Musselman Library, Gettysburg College. Since 2001, Musselman Library has written an emergency preparedness plan and created disaster kits with salvage supplies for all staff areas as well as participated in state-wide training initiatives. Musselman Library now seeks funding from NEH to procure a professional to conduct and write a formal risk assessment that would help it move further toward protecting the library's humanities collections from fire, water, and other forms of damage. This risk assessment will identify gaps in our current emergency preparedness plan, and the costs associated with the mitigation of these dangers to the humanities collections. It will outline strategic next steps to take to ensure the safety of our collections.

Grant: 199523 / PG-50779-10,   Category: Humanities,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Preservation Assistance for Emory and Henry College Archives

Recipient: Vejnar, Robert Jerry (Emory, VA 24327 USA) in affiliation with Emory and Henry College

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of preservation and storage supplies to rehouse the college's archives and manuscript collections documenting the religious, educational, and local and regional history of southwestern Virginia.

Description: This grant would pay for Emory and Henry College (a coeducational, non-profit, four-year liberal arts college located in southwestern Virginia, and the oldest institution of higher learning in the region) to purchase preservation and storage supplies to house materials comprising the College's archives. Items to be purchased include acid-free archival boxes and file folders, storage shelving, and photograph sleeves.

Grant: 199528 / PG-50784-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Improvement of Museum Shelving and Environmental Equipment

Recipient: Loguda-Summers, Debra (Kirksville, MO 63501-1497 USA) in affiliation with A.T. Still University of Health Sciences (Kirksville, MO 63501 USA)

Goal: The purchase of storage furniture and environmental monitoring equipment for a museum collection consisting of more than 30,000 objects, photographs, periodicals, and bound volumes dating from the early 19th century to the present related to the establishment of the university in 1892 and the history of osteopathic medicine.

Description: The Still National Osteopathic Museum-International Center for Osteopathic History, the primary repository for materials documenting the origins, growth, and practice of osteopathic medicine (1874-present), is seeking assistance to improve the preservation of its unique humanities collection. Grant funding will facilitate the purchase of high-grade artifact storage shelving units and a hygrothermograph needed for 3,000 square feet of newly acquired/renovated space that will significantly improve collection consolidation and storage, processing, and patron services.

Grant: 199535 / PG-50791-10,   Category: Museum Studies or Historic Preservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Musical Instruments Preservation Project

Recipient: Leininger, Matt (Cincinnati, OH 45202-1557 USA) in affiliation with Cincinnati Art Museum (Cincinnati, OH 45202 USA)

Goal: Hiring a consultant to assess the museum's musical instrument collection and to recommend appropriate preservation treatment and storage. The musical instruments are used in research, education, and public programming to demonstrate the variety of musical traditions around the world.

Description: Without a curator or expert of musical instruments on staff at the Cincinnati Art Museum, a large majority of the 800+ instruments in the collection have never been thoroughly researched and have remained in storage. Some individual instruments have been identified as being of rare and exceptional quality, including a Japanese Samisen labeled with the name of an Imperial lute master and an Italian Serpent Horn identified by scholar Herbert Heyde. However, most of the musical instrument collection has been stored in less than ideal conditions and, as a result, is inaccessible and suffering from deterioration. To address this situation, we plan to implement a three-phase Musical Instruments Preservation Project starting in January 2010: Phase 1 - Curatorial Assessment; Phase 2 - Conservation Assessment; Phase 3 - Re-housing.

Grant: 199537 / PG-50793-10,   Category: Museum Studies or Historic Preservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Purchase of Environmental Monitoring Equipment and Storage Supplies

Recipient: King, Lyndel I (Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA) in affiliation with University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of equipment to monitor light in the galleries of the Weisman Art Museum and archival storage supplies for its works of art on paper. Half of the museum's diverse collection consists of works on paper, including prints, drawings, and photographs from such notable artists as Honoré Daumier, John James Audubon, Marc Chagall, Jacob Lawrence, and Alfred Stieglitz.

Description: The Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota requests funding for the purchase of an Elsec 764 ultraviolet (UV) light meter for gallery and storage light monitoring, plus one fifteen-drawer archival flat file and Solander boxes to upgrade our current storage system for works of art on paper. These goals are based on recommendations made in an NEH subsidized survey performed in 2001, and they represent two main areas of concern: high light levels in the galleries and overcrowded and inadequate storage for works of art on paper. Purchases using funds provided by this grant will directly support the preservation of all our unique collections in two ways: by allowing us to monitor, record, and mitigate excessive light conditions, thus protecting them from excessive levels of visible and ultraviolet light; and by housing the works on paper collections in storage in archival, stable, and uncrowded storage units.

Grant: 199538 / PG-50794-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Preservation of Clovis Archaeological Materials at the Arizona State Museum

Recipient: Odegaard, Nancy (Tucson, AZ 85721-0026 USA) in affiliation with University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ 85721 USA)

Goal: An assessment of the Arizona State Museum's Clovis archaeological collection of more than 27,000 objects, dated 13,000 years ago, and associated excavation field notes and other documentation. A conservator experienced in the preservation of paleoanthropological materials will assess the collection and recommend storage supplies, and the museum's staff will rehouse the objects.

Description: The Arizona State Museum (ASM) seeks to preserve its Clovis archaeological materials. The proposed project includes: (1) a conservation assessment of the collection and its current environmental conditions by a conservator specializing in paleo-archaeological materials, (2) discussions with paleo-archaeologists on issues of access and preservation for research collections, and (3) the re-housing of these artifacts to appropriate containers in existing museum cabinets and shelves. Current conditions for the collections have increased deterioration and compromised collections management activities. Preservation and re-housing of these items will make them more accessible for both scientific research and interpretive uses.

Grant: 199541 / PG-50797-10,   Category: Archaeology,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants

Preserving and Providing Access to Non-Western Textiles

Recipient: Nelson-Mayson, Lin (Saint Paul, MN 55108-6136 USA) in affiliation with University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA)

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of preservation materials to rehouse an international collection of textiles. The collection contains hand-woven, hand-printed or dyed, and hand-embroidered items from Africa, the Americas, and Asia and includes shawls from India, textiles from 16 different African countries, Navajo rugs and blankets, and reverse appliqué molas (blouses or blouse panels) from Panama and Guatemala. These items are used in scholarly research and in educational and public programming to explore the history and culture of these regions and the effects of globalization and new technologies on traditional clothmaking techniques and materials.

Description: The Goldstein Museum of Design (GMD,) part of the College of Design (CDes) at the University of Minnesota, requests $6,000 to purchase archival materials for re-housing a historically and culturally significant group of 1,000 textiles from around the world. Completion of this project would relieve object crowding and provide safer and easier access to this core group of textiles. The impacts of this dramatic storage upgrade would include long-term preservation of the textiles and much-enhanced accessibility for scholarship, object documentation, and exhibition and for use in university classes and outreach programs.

Grant: 199544 / PG-50800-10,   Category: Archival Management and Conservation,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants