The purchase of storage furniture to rehouse 24 oversize paintings and works on paper, including works by Indiana artists, former faculty members such as Reid Winsey, and national artists such as Robert Rauschenburg.  The collection is used in both staff and student curated exhibitions, as well as in the classroom setting, to support courses in art and art history, anthropology, Asian studies, chemistry and biochemistry, classical studies, English, religious studies, and women’s studies.  This project would be the second and final phase of a project to rehouse the University’s 2D collection and fits into the University’s larger collections management plans.

DePauw University respectfully requests $6,000 to purchase 12 powder coated art storage racks to support rehousing efforts. These new art storage racks will house approximately 24 oversize paintings and works on paper from the permanent collection, ranging from a late 19th century Hoosier Impressionist painting by Indiana native Walter Hixon Isnogle to a series of paintings and oversize prints by DePauw University faculty and former students. The objects directly support a variety of teaching and research needs at DePauw University, including undergraduate projects, faculty use, and public exhibitions. Per a 2014 Museum Assessment Program site visit, the external reviewer recommended the replacement of substandard wooden painting bins with museum-quality storage furniture. This project is part of a larger collections consolidation project and is included in the board approved 2015-2020 gallery strategic plan.

The purchase of high density shelving units for the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Library and Archives collections, which offer a rich history of mountaineering from the 19th century to the present.  A 10,000 photographic slide collection visually documents the club’s early history, recreation gear, trails, as well as wilderness camps, cabins, and alpine mountain huts in the White Mountain region of New Hampshire.  Additional collections include the writings, correspondence, and scrapbooks of Thelma Bonney Hall Towle, a journalist and rock climber who chronicled her experiences in the 1930s and 40s.  Institutional records dating from the club’s founding in 1876 document hiking trails, such as the 230-mile Bay Circuit Trail circumnavigating Boston, programmatic and education programs, and partnerships with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Northern Forest Alliance.

The project will focus on Appalachian Mountain Club’s (AMC’s) Library & Archives Special Collections and Institutional Records. These materials range from outdoor photography from 1870s, manuscript collections of outdoorspeople of the 19th through the 21st centuries, and complete business records of the nation’s oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization. Our primary and secondary source materials document over 140 years of the wilderness experience in this country through the lens of history, writing, visual arts and culture. Our specific goal within this project to is to upgrade our storage capabilities to meet modern standards of preservation by incorporating high density shelving into our new Archives location.

A preservation needs assessment for more than 1,000 volumes, 500 rolls of microfilm, and 350 linear feet of manuscripts, published materials, and photographs documenting the history of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, and preservation training for area cultural heritage organizations.  The collection includes manuscript records of antebellum yeoman farmers, important area businesses, and an 1885 railroad-adjacent planned community; photographs of Eastern Shore scenes in the 1890s; a dozen local newspapers continuously collected since the 19^th century; and a comprehensive collection of books written about the area.  Recent bequests augment the library’s collections on local and African American history and genealogy.  The planned assessment would assist the applicant in planning a new library and heritage center.

Eastern Shore Public Library Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, financially supports the mission of the Eastern Shore Public Library. The Eastern Shore Public Library (ESPL), which serves Accomack and Northampton Counties on Virginia’s Eastern Shore peninsula, has a unique local history and archives collection frequently used by historians, authors, and genealogists. ESPL proposes to hire a preservation consultant from LYRASIS to conduct a preservation needs assessment of collections and conduct training on their care and handling. ESPL’s archives include documents detailing the Shore’s rich history from its Native Americans’ European contact in the 17th century to the present, including documents about the “culture of manumission” unique to this area. ESPL’s goal through this project is to assess the collection, create plans for its preservation, and train staff and volunteers to ensure they are available to students, humanities scholars, and the community in then care and handling.

A preservation assessment of a museum collection of approximately 30,000 artifacts housed in the historic Newport Casino, site of the first U.S. National Lawn Tennis Championship in 1881.  Highlights include a variety of fine and decorative art works, jewelry, trophies, clothing, and memorabilia relating to the history of tennis from its origins during the Renaissance to the present. In addition, the museum maintains 300,000 photographs and slides and 8,500 books, periodicals, and audiovisual records associated with the history of tennis.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame seeks to hire a consultant to work jointly with the museum staff to conduct a spatial and needs assessment of the collections storage and work areas. The consultant’s report will address the current collections storage area, the library, conference room, and staff work areas, focusing on storage spatial requirements, equipment and housings, environmental management and monitoring, and access. This report will assist in revising our Strategic Plan and Collections Plan. Our facility interprets the history of tennis and its impact on our culture, as well as the building which is representative of the Gilded Age in Newport, Rhode Island and is a National Historic Landmark.

The purchase and installation of UV filter film and shades to protect special collection materials located in the Missouri Botanical Garden Library’s reading room and cataloging processing room.  The 10,500 books in Special Collections include more than 1,000 volumes published between 1474 and 1753, predating the publication of Carl Linnaeus’s Species Plantarum, which used binomial nomenclature for the first time.  Other collection highlights include 960 botanical volumes by and about Linnaeus, a first edition of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, a first octavo edition of Audubon’s Birds of America, and an edition of 738 engravings made from 18^th-century copper plates that record the botanical discoveries made on Captain James Cook’s first voyage.

The Peter H Raven Library specializes in botany, but it also contains works of biography, natural history, exploration, anthropology, garden design, illustration and art. The Library holds about 240,000 monographs and journals in its General Collection and 10,500 books in Special Collections, the earliest dating from 1474. Our Collections contain illustrated volumes of interest to artists and art historians, many original bindings to support the work of bibliographers, and pre-Linnaean works of natural history whose contents reveal pre-scientific cosmologies. We are tasked with caring for these materials and passing them on in good condition to future generations, so we want to provide them with the best possible environmental conditions. Acting on the recommendation of the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, we are requesting grant support to mitigate light exposure in our Reading Room and cataloging area via the installation of UV filter film and shades.

A preservation assessment of archival records and artifacts maintained by the Washington State School for the Blind, established in 1886, along with two in-house workshops on preservation methods. Comprising 250 linear feet of archival sources and 400 objects, the collection includes correspondence and books in braille, audio recordings in multiple formats, photographs and scrapbooks, newsletters, campus maps for the blind, Dictaphones, an Edison cylinder phonograph, braille machines, and other sources documenting the school’s history as well as the history of technologies used for educating the blind.

The Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) Archives documents the 130-year history of the school and the students who lived there. These histories are preserved in scrapbooks, news clippings, photographs and student records. The evolution of technologies is documented through antique sound equipment, volumes of braille, and Talking Books on vinyl. With limited staff, the collections from one of the oldest schools for the blind in the Western United States remains hidden. We propose a preservation pre-assessment of WSSB’s collections. After that the WSUV Library Archivist, in consultation with WSSB employees, will develop a 5-year plan to begin making the history of WSSB visible for its students and the public.

A preservation assessment of the university’s special collections and archives, along with an on-site workshop for staff on the care, handling, and storage of historical research materials. The collection comprises 18,000 books, 200,000 photographs, and 5,400 linear feet of archival records and personal papers focusing largely on the history and culture of Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and surrounding communities in Iowa’s Cedar Valley region.  Highlights include the papers of longtime U.S. senator, and UNI alumnus, Charles Grassley, along with prominent literature faculty members, including writer Robert James Waller and poet James Hearst.

This project will improve preservation in Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Northern Iowa, supporting future research, teaching, and outreach. The Manuscripts Collection and University Archives are the focus, consisting of over 5,400 linear feet of items with strengths in the Cedar Valley community and university history. The collection includes materials that reflect humanities research, teaching, and creation; records from area groups supporting engagement in the humanities; and items that reflect local political, social, and economic activities. The collections provide documentary evidence of experiences from diverse perspectives on campus and across the region. The grant would provide a site visit, report, and workshop that will identify priorities for improved policies and practices in material storage, handling, and preservation to align with professional standards after decades of neglect. The project dates are January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020.

Engaging preventive care specialists from the Northeast Document Conservation Center to assess climate control capabilities and provide recommendations on emergency preparedness. The collection, which documents everyday life in rural New England before the Civil War, holds approximately 50,000 items related to daily life, from clothing to furniture, household items, and agricultural tools. The research library has more than 35,000 volumes and 1,000 linear feet of manuscript material such as periodicals and the records of families, businesses, towns, and counties.

The Old Sturbridge Village Museum Collection and Research Library represent one of the single largest holding of materials documenting everyday life in rural New England prior to the Civil War. The Village’s significant collections illuminate the rich history of the fashion, ideas, technologies, and everyday lives of rural New Englanders. The scope of this project is to address collections stewardship practices within the Collections Building, Research Library, and Archives, with respect to the proper environmental standards, emergency preparedness, and mold mitigation. The primary goal of this grant is to utilize the expert knowledge preventative care specialists at the Northeast Document Conservation Center to assess our climate control capabilities, and provide recommendations to better manage the particular risks associated with our collection environments and review our emergency preparedness policies and practices, including providing mold identification and remediation training.

Purchase of archival and preservation equipment for improved future implementation of the collections management policy and emergency plan. The MCB’s collections span 13,000 years of history in this part of Texas and number around 25,000 objects, including stone artifacts from early coastal peoples, Native American pottery sherds, and seven French cannons of significance to the colonial history of the area. The collection is used for exhibitions, research, and teaching in this Hispanic-serving community college. The MCB was in an area evacuated during Hurricane Harvey (2017). While staff implemented the short-term emergency procedures, the natural disaster exposed collection objects to high heat and humidity and brought urgency to addressing inadequacies of current shelving, storage, and preservation equipment.

Victoria College’s Museum of the Coastal Bend (MCB) presents the last 13,000 years of history in the 10-county Texas Coastal Bend region. Its 25,000 artifacts include weapons, tools, jewelry, bones, and pottery that let the public explore regional cultural and economic origins through the transition from nomadic lifestyles to European economic and religious settlement to Spanish cattle ranching enterprise and the Mexican culture now ingrained in Texas’ society. This project focuses on the collection’s 90% research and interpretive artifacts. The goal is to align preventive conservation and disaster response capabilities with the standards of MCB’s Collections Management Policy and Emergency Plan. A HEPA vacuum, data logger system, and archival storage will preserve sensitive artifacts. After experiencing Hurricane Harvey’s effects, MCB will also purchase cabinetry and archival bags for the evacuation of on-display gallery artifacts and a dehumidifier for post-disaster mitigation.

The rehousing of approximately 1,000 objects in preservation quality cabinets as well as environmental monitoring equipment to protect Regis University’s collection of New Mexican Santo art.  The collection, ranging from the 18^th century to the present day, comprises paintings and drawings on canvas, tin, and wood tablets, as well as sculptures and mixed media objects made out of ceramic, plastic, bone, cactus, cardboard, textiles, and glass that represent images of Jesus and Catholic saints. The collection is used in the study of religious history, missionary history, and Latino history and culture in New Mexico and Colorado.

Regis University Library is requesting funds to purchase storage furniture and environmental monitoring supplies to support preservation efforts for Regis University’s Santo Collection.

A preservation assessment of 700 cubic feet of material related to Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The collection is held by the Holocaust Museum & Learning Center Archives, which is part of the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, and includes oral histories, films, artifacts, photographs, artwork, letters and archival records that chronicle the movement of immigrants who made their way to St. Louis.  Additional materials document the World War II experience, including the activities of American soldiers who fought in Europe and helped liberate camps.  Several collections focus on individual Jewish families, such as the Schweich Collection, which traces the history of a family living in France, some of whose members joined the French Foreign Legion and later the resistance, before immigrating to St. Louis.  Besides offering recommendations to improve environmental and storage conditions in the center’s current location, the consultant would also assist with planning for its anticipated move and expansion.

The humanities collections of the Holocaust Museum and Learning Center consist of 235 oral histories (48 feet linear feet of material, 9 cubic feet of films, 5 cubic feet) of photographs, and 5 cubic feet of Holocaust-related films. It includes photographs, material culture, pre- and post-WWII personal items, period items and documents, military items, money, publications, letters, press items, sheet music, artwork, LPs, films etc. The Archives has two relatively large collections of documents relating to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The collections offer personal views into life in pre-WWII Europe, the changes with the rise of the Third Reich and the Holocaust and the war’s aftermath. The material illustrates post-war struggles and the movement of people making their way to St. Louis. The project’s goal is to conduct a formal assessment identifying short-term goals to guide and assist us in addressing the long-term preservation issues of the collections.

A preservation assessment of the college’s archives, along with the purchase of preservation supplies and staff participation in workshops on the fundamentals of preservation. Collections include over 300 books and 92 linear feet of documents, scrapbooks, photographs, sound recordings, administrative records, ledgers, and artifacts mainly documenting the history of the college, founded in the early 1900s as a training school for African American teachers.  Of particular note are the personal papers of Robert Gordon Matheson, president of Paducah Junior College from 1936 to 1968 and a leader in Paducah’s African American community.

In 1909, Dr. D. H. Anderson began digging the foundation of the first building for West Kentucky Industrial College in Paducah, Kentucky, establishing one of the first African American teacher training colleges in the south, paving the way for what later became a preeminent community college, West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC). The College has a rich history from its previous institutions documented through photos, scrapbooks, and memorabilia, which are unfortunately inaccessible to the public. Items have been exposed to unfavorable conditions, including flooding, temperature fluctuations, and storage issues, creating an urgent need to preserve. Continued assessment by a professional consultant and staff training on proper archiving techniques are crucial to preserve and showcase items from one of the first African American schools in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

The purchase of preservation supplies and the rehousing of Yolo County Board of Supervisors meeting records, comprising 540 linear feet.  Dating from 1850 to 2007, the materials document numerous issues and challenges confronted by one of California’s original 27 counties, located west/northwest of Sacramento, including transportation, agriculture, property and water rights, immigration, sanitation, recreation, commerce, education, and more. The collection provides insights into regional and local community life and local government decision-making as it has evolved since the county’s incorporation up to the present era.

This grant will support the refoldering and reboxing of a collection of 540 boxes of Yolo County Board of Supervisors meeting materials, which date back to the 1850s. This collection is integral to understanding the history and development of Yolo County and also provides windows onto the experiences of community members. The meeting materials document agreements, ordinances, appointments, etc. which often serve to illustrate larger concepts such as the employment of women, public programs, health services, the creation of public libraries and other county services, and water rights, among others. Volunteers will perform the work of processing this collection, which will include removing metal fasteners and rubber bands, transferring documents from their original folders into archival folders, labeling the folders with the accession number, record group number, collection name, and all information from the original folder label, and then moving those folders to new archival boxes.

The purchase and installation of storage racks and shelving for an ethnographic collection that includes strong holdings from the Pacific Northwest, Central and South America, New Guinea, and West Africa.  The racks and shelving would improve storage conditions for the collection’s most vulnerable objects, a set of large carved and decorated wooden shields from Papua New Guinea and a collection of Native American dance regalia from central Washington State.  The collections play an important role in the university’s Museum Studies courses, and are used in exhibits, and by students, faculty, and outside researchers.

The Museum of Culture and Environment (MCE) requests funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller institutions for: the purchase and installation of art racking for a collection of eight Mengen shields from New Britain, Papua New Guinea and the purchase of shelving and storage supplies for a collection of sixteen pieces of Native American dance regalia, clothing, and accessories. The MCE’s eclectic holdings reflect the varied history of collecting by individuals in central Washington State. The objects are vital for display at the MCE, for study by individuals at Central Washington University and beyond, and for supporting the training of students enrolled in the Museum Studies minor. These dual rehousing projects contribute to the Museum’s goal of long term preservation of its collections at the highest professional standards. The MCE requests $5673 for the completion of these projects.

The purchase of preservation supplies for the archives of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. The archives comprise 4155 items, most of them from the administrations of the first two museum directors, H.H. Brimley (1895-1936) and Harry Davis (1937-1966). As part of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the museum represented the state at the World’s Fair and the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta; many of its archival records are connected to these activities. Other items in the collection reflect the museum’s involvement with community organizations, such as Boy Scouts, the Carolina Bird Club, and the North Carolina Academy of Sciences. Grant funds would support the purchase of items recommended in a 2017 conservation assessment, including archival supplies, a fireproof cabinet, environmental data loggers and software, and a HEPA vacuum.

The NEH Preservation Grant will support the acquisition of supplies and tools to improve collections care of the archives of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, housed in the H. H. Brimley Memorial Library. Founded in 1879, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences now finds itself at the forefront of natural science museum research and programing in the United States. The museum field is undergoing profound social and political change, and using the archives and historical collections of the institution affords a unique and engaging way to provide context and continuity as we pursue our mission illuminate the natural world and inspire its conservation. The archives include artifacts, paintings, illustrations, correspondence, receipts, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs, and a few small private collections.

Engaging a professional conservator to assess the conservation treatment needs of twenty-six objects in the Mark Twain House that need conservation and play key roles in house interpretation. They include Twain’s billiard table and other furniture, travel case and trunks, walking cane, and personal items, such as his pipe case. The objects are described as invaluable to the accurate and comprehensive interpretation of the house, offering unique insight into Twain’s life and work and illuminating the evolution of Samuel Clemens from a poor boy of the South to an upper-class “Connecticut Yankee.” The billiard table, for example, dominates the room where he did his writing and entertained his male friends. The items illustrate upper-class domestic life of Twain’s era, including its conspicuous consumption.

The Mark Twain House & Museum will engage a professional conservator to assess the conservation treatment needs of twenty-six objects in the museum’s collections. The objects include personal items and furnishings, all of which belonged to Samuel Clemens("Mark Twain")or his family members. They are irreplaceable artifacts of America’s literary history and culture, which provide unique and valuable insight into Mark Twain, his work, his era, and his enduring legacy. The project will provide the information the museum needs to set conservation priorities, and to budget and fundraise for needed conservation work. The project’s ultimate goal is to ensure that the collection objects are properly preserved so that they will continue to be available for display in the historic Mark Twain House, which is a National Historic Landmark, and in exhibitions at the museum and at other cultural institutions, as well as for research by museum staff, scholars, and others.

A preservation assessment of the university’s archives and special collections, comprising 3,000 linear feet of official records, personal papers, publications, and artifacts.  Materials primarily document the history of the university, founded in 1847 by the United Brethren Church, the nation’s first Christian denomination not transplanted from Europe.  Highlights of the collection include the papers of alumni John and Zella Bates King, who ran the United Brethren’s Albert Academy Missionary School in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 1894 to 1912, and of alumna Ila Grindell, who served as secretary to Ernest Cherrington, a leader of the American temperance movement in the early 20^th century.

The Otterbein University Archive in Westerville, Ohio is dedicated to the collection of historical materials related to the university and the United Brethren Church, which founded Otterbein in 1847. Small colleges stand at the intersection of the intellectual history of the country and the social history of their communities. Otterbein’s archive, unique in both size and scope, documents the interplay of those histories. Its 3000 + linear feet of materials capture everything from the birth of the Temperance Movement to personal accounts of the lives of our alumni. This archive is actively used by our community and outside historians, but we want to improve our preservation and access efforts. We are seeking this grant to hire a professional archival consultant to assess the state of our collection, specifically the means of preservation; the facility; the ways in which the collection is made available for research; and the policies governing the collection in our operation.

A conservation assessment of 700 19^th-century French lithographs, including works by artists such as Honoré Daumier, Édouard Manet, Odilon Redon, and Eugène Delacroix.  The consulting conservator would work with a graduate student or recent graduate in art history or conservation in handling and assessing the preservation needs of works on paper.

The Fairfield University Art Museum recently received a major gift of over 700 19th-century French lithographs and etchings from artist, collector and master printer James Reed. Prints have always been appreciated as primary source material in the humanities, their imagery and subject matter are intimately tied to specific historical currents and events, literary themes and genres, and religious and political ideas; indeed, they record learning and innovation in all branches of human inquiry and endeavor, including artistic experimentation and ambition, and in a medium that was the most affordable, accessible, and widely disseminated to the greatest population demographic. The James Reed Collection of European Prints are not at present properly housed, nor has their condition been evaluated. A Preservation Assistance grant will allow us to assess each print and determine its storage and conservation requirements, thereby providing an implementation road map.

The purchase of preservation supplies and environmental monitoring equipment for the association’s humanities collections, which hold some 6,000 documents and photographs in addition to 300 wood, glass, and metal objects; 300 media documents; and 200 books. The items, such as personal journals, letters, newspapers, and ranching and homesteading artifacts, tell the story of immigration, homesteader migration, conflict, settlement, and community-building in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. This small-town, volunteer-run organization offers robust programming, as well as community involvement that includes Native American Reservation schools and residents.

The Hermosa Arts & History Association’s Collections record stories waiting to be told, revealing and preserving the history of a particular geographic area in western South Dakota, a small part of the American experience of immigration. Our stories will tell of the human movement of people from a variety of cultures coming to settle on the Great Plains prairie and in the Black Hills, an often-repeated historical theme that is still modern in our time. The stories we record can answer questions: Who came? Why did they come? Who was already here? Was there conflict? How was it resolved? Does conflict linger? What were the hardships? Who were the heroes? Who were the thieves? How was a community carved out? How did they meet needs for food, clothing, shelter? How did they prosper or despair? The experience of immigration is a human one. Hearing the stories may add to understanding, reflection, and open minds. HAHA is asking for financial assistance for archival supplies and tools.

Hiring a consultant to develop a plan for environmental controls to preserve a collection housed in the Gloucester, Massachusetts, home of Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1821), women’s rights advocate and writer. The holdings include more than 1,300 historic objects: furniture; artworks that include pieces by Murray’s nephew, the noted portraitist John Singer Sargent; and household and decorative objects such as silver by Paul Revere, china, porcelain, textiles, jewelry, and ephemera. The archives contain 35 linear feet of rare books, photographs, and documents that include sermons, deeds, and wills. These items help researchers and visitors explore life in a Northeast port during the Revolutionary era, on topics such as religious freedom and tolerance and women’s roles in the new Republic.

The collection consists of 1,350 objects and archival materials. The majority of the collection dates from 1750-1840. The majority of the objects relate to Judith Sargent Murray (1751-1820),her family, work and life in Gloucester MA. The objects dating from 1860 to 1925 include textiles and works on paper as well as works by John Singer Sargent (Judith’s great nephew) and his immediate family. The collection provides tangible evidence of ideas inherent in humanities themes: Judith’s ideas evidenced in her writings, John Murray’s in his sermons and John Singer Sargent’s distress over war, evident in his watercolor of British and American troops in 1917. The Museum has moved well beyond decorative arts to programming that engages visitors in questions of the day by using collections in creative ways. The objective of this grant is to obtain an environmental control plan from a consultant so the collection will be better preserved.

The hiring of a consultant to undertake a general preservation assessment of the museum’s 4,000 Native American art objects and to develop a long-term plan for the care of the collection.  This is one of the most significant collections of Native American art in the mid-Atlantic region and represents cultures from across the United States.  Included are ceramics, basketry, jewelry, textiles, ceremonial objects, tools, and musical instruments and works by leading contemporary artists, such as Dan Namingha (Hopi), Allan Houser (Apache), Tony Abeyta (Navajo), Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo), and Marie Watt (Seneca).  The museum and community art center serve a broad audience of students, faculty, the public, and tribal members, in addition to partnering with Montclair State University and local K-12 educators.

With goals to improve the Museum’s capacity to preserve it’s collection of Native American art and artifacts and make them accessible for future generations, the Montclair Art Museum (MAM) respectfully requests a Preservation Assistance Grant from the NEH to hire a preservation specialist to conduct a general preservation assessment of the Native American collection and draft a long-range plan for its care and sustainability.

A preservation assessment of nearly 26,000 volumes housed at the Mary Couts Burnett Library’s Special Collections, with materials ranging from a first edition of Imitatio Christi by Thomas à Kempis dating from about 1473 to 21st-century artists’ books.  Highlights of the collection include 254 Shakespeare volumes and first editions of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens; maps, broadsides, books, and manuscripts of Colonial Spanish America dating from the 16th through the 19th centuries; and a first edition of the King James Bible and works representing the revival of interest in Hebrew and Judaism during the Reformation.  In addition, this project would support a full-day disaster-preparedness workshop open to staff members from special collections in the North Texas area.

TCU Special Collections proposes to engage a preservation consultant to conduct their first preservation assessment and disaster-preparedness workshop. The latter will be open to special collections staff in the North Texas area. TCU’s collections are small but diverse. Highlights include the Pavier Quartos (1619), an attempt to issue a collected Shakespeare that predates the First Folio; books and broadsides in Spanish, Latin, Nahuatl, and Quechua that are among the earliest works printed in the New World; and two early twentieth-century Ashkenazi Torah scrolls that serve as poignant reminders of Jewish communities destroyed during WWII. Outcomes include bringing disaster preparedness training to an area with few existing opportunities for in-person instruction, the drafting of disaster plans, providing hands-on experience with disaster response, and the creation of a list of preservation recommendations to inform TCU’s preservation plan.

The purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and archival storage supplies for the University of Alabama, Huntsville’s Special Collections and Archives, which has collecting strengths in the history of aerospace and flight, local and regional politics, and the history of Alabama’s Tennessee River Valley.  Among the 3,200 linear feet of archival materials are the architectural drawings, maps, and research of architect Harvie P. Jones, who frequently worked on historic preservation projects; a 114-linear feet collection of northern Alabama’s Huntsville family covering the period from 1810 to 1990; the business records of the historic Harrison Brothers Hardware Company founded in 1879; and the papers of U.S. Congressman Robert E. Jones, Jr, who was instrumental in the passage of the 1949 Rural Housing Act and co-authored the Interstate Highway Act.

Special Collections and Archives at The University of Alabama in Huntsville proposes to improve environmental monitoring with better monitoring equipment and to facilitate preservation of archival materials with document enclosures. This grant will purchase acid free boxes and folders for the humanities materials housed in the archives, monitoring equipment to help measure the stability of the environment, and flat files to facilitate the storage of oversized materials.

A preservation assessment of the Sarnoff Collection consisting of more than 6,000 objects documenting major developments in communication and electronics through the lens of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). Initially part of a museum and technical archive located at RCA’s research laboratory in Princeton, New Jersey, the collection was transferred to The College of New Jersey in 2010.  It consists of vacuum tubes and early versions of phonographs, radios, televisions, computers, and flat screen technology, along with assorted RCA memorabilia. Among its highlights are the audion, a limited run vacuum tube manufactured in 1915; the first commercially available color television set (1954); and experimental recordings made in 1955 from the world’s first programmable electronic synthesizer.

The purpose of the conservation survey of the Sarnoff Collection at The College of New Jersey is to identify objects of particular preservation concern (including plastics, electronic components, and other unstable or hazardous materials) and prioritize remedial, preventive, and storage-related conservation actions for the Collection.

The purchase of environmental monitoring equipment to ensure the preservation of more than 20,000 historical objects, 15,000 books and periodicals, and 1,700 linear feet of correspondence, photographs, manuscripts and other archival records. Through an active set of public and educational programs, the museum draws on this extensive collection of materials to document the history of McLean County and central Illinois from the time of its first inhabitants up to the present.

McLean County Museum of History requests support for the purchase and installation of digital data loggers to improve environmental controls in the Museum’s collection, archival, and exhibit spaces. The Museum occupies over 40,000 square feet with 5 core exhibits, 3 interchangeable exhibits, a hands-on discovery gallery, over 20,000 objects, more than 15,000 research volumes, and 1,700 linear feet of archival materials. Visitors will discover mourning badges worn during Abraham Lincoln’s funeral, the desk where Lincoln wrote his autobiography introducing himself to the nation as a presidential candidate, David Davis’s law office, and Merlin Kennedy’s Santa suit from the 1966 Christmas parade where the NAACP float was halted by police in an attempt to ban him from portraying a black Santa. Completion of the project will allow staff to quickly respond to fluctuations in temperature and humidity and provide better stewardship and preservation of the collections.