Regional Preservation Field Services Program

FAIN: PE-258309-18

Midwest Art Conservation Center, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN 55404-3506)
Colin D. Turner (Project Director: April 2017 to October 2023)

A regional preservation field service program that strengthens preservation practices and the care of humanities collections at hundreds of museums, historical organizations, libraries, and archives in five states of the Upper Midwest. Activities include training workshops, disaster response services, preservation needs assessments and surveys, the loan of environmental monitoring equipment, and information and outreach services. In all, the project would support more than twenty workshops reaching nearly 400 cultural heritage professionals in the Midwest. The award would additionally initiate a Native American Fellowship program that would support two conservators in training.

The Midwest Art Conservation Center (MACC) requests continued funding for its Regional Preservation Field Service Program (Preservation Services). This program strengthens the preservation practices and collections care at cultural repositories in the Upper Midwest, resulting in increased public access. During the proposed NEH grant period (2018-2019), MACC's Preservation Services program will improve the preservation practices at hundreds of institutions by providing: collections care and preservation related workshops; disaster planning, training and response services; preservation surveys and plans; collections care information; grant preparation assistance; and other related collection care improvement services. The program has demonstrated very successful outcomes and measurable results, keeps its programming accessible to even the smallest institutions in the region, is staffed by knowledgeable conservators and preservation experts, and is devoted to this region’s collections.