Purchase of Preservation Furniture

FAIN: PG-233008-16

College of Southern Maryland, La Plata (La Plata, MD 20646-2867)
Anna Kephart (Project Director: April 2015 to January 2018)

The purchase of storage furniture for a collection documenting the history and culture of the southern Maryland region. The Center maintains 225 archival collections dating from 1594 to the present with information on indigenous peoples, colonial settlements, early agricultural methods, commercial activities, and changing patterns of architecture and land use.  Also included are sources pertaining to slavery, the Civil War, segregation, and the civil rights movement in the region.  Of note are legal records and correspondence of Judge Frederick Stone, a lawyer and congressman who defended Mary Surratt in the trial for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The Southern Maryland Studies Center (SMSC) is a small local history archive that was established by the College of Southern Maryland in 1976 in order to provide a central location for students, historians, genealogists, and community members to use the Center's resources to study the culture and development of this historically important region. NEH grant funds would support the purchase of improved storage furniture for the SMSC's permanent archival collections of rare books, photographs, manuscripts, and audiovisual materials. Funds from a 2011 NEH Preservation Assistance Grant were used to replace about 2/3 of the existing wire rack shelving, but were not sufficient to replace all of the substandard shelving units. Additionally, the SMSC continues to acquire new collections and materials, and needs supplemental shelving space to safely house and preserve these materials.