General Preservation Assessment for the Humanities Collections in La Verne’s Cultural & Natural History Collections
FAIN: PG-266647-19
University of La Verne (La Verne, CA 91750-4401)
Felicia Beardsley (Project Director: January 2019 to October 2022)
A general preservation assessment and training
for staff to improve care of the university’s humanities collections, containing
30,000 objects that have been amassed over the university’s 128-year
history. The ethnographic collections document
the cultures of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, with highlights including early
twentieth-century textiles from Guatemala and Peru, Native American baskets and
textiles, and a significant collection of Tarahumara musical instruments,
ceremonial items, and clothing. The
collections are used by faculty, staff, and students, in exhibits, and for
community-based projects.
University of La Verne’s Cultural & Natural History Collections is requesting funding for a General Preservation Assessment of its humanities collections. Together, the humanities collections consist of roughly 30,000 artifacts, including Native American baskets and textiles, African and Asian cultural heritage materials, the largest collection of Tarahumara artifacts in the U.S., modern Americana objects, the Esther Funk collection of historical central and south American textiles, the Galen S. Beery Collection of southeast Asian ethnographic materials, and ancient archaeological artifacts from the Americas. Funding will support the expertise of conservation specialist, Ms. Irena Calinescu, who has worked with collections in the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, LA County Museum of Art, J.Paul Getty Museum-Antiquities Conservation Department. The assessment will focus on current storage of the humanities collections in CNHC and include basic preservation training for CNHC staff.