A Preservation Program for the Massachusetts Historical Society

FAIN: CH-50050-04

Massachusetts Historical Society (Boston, MA 02215-3631)
Brenda M. Lawson (Project Director: May 2003 to November 2007)

Endowment for a preservation librarian, contract preservation services, and conservation supplies.

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) seeks a Challange Grant of $400,000 to be matched by $1,600,000 in additional funds (for a total project cost of $2,000000), to establish a new, endowed library staff psotion -- Preservation Librarian. The MHS manuscript collection and its supporting holdings of books, pamphlets, maps, newspapers, photographs, and artifacts, is one of the nation's most significant primary resources for the study of early American history and the entire course of Massachusetts history. A recently completed long-range plan determined that the preservation and security of the Society's collection is the most completting challenge facing the Society at the current time. To address its conservation and preservation needs, the Society will raise funds as part of its Capital Campaign for a library-wide preservation program. To do this effectively, the Society must develop an integrated preservation program under the management of a trained preservation librarian.