Seymour Library History Center Environmental Monitoring and Archival Rehousing Project

FAIN: PG-258394-18

Seymour Public Library District (Auburn, NY 13021-3404)
Dori Gottschalk-Fielding (Project Director: May 2017 to February 2022)

The purchase of environmental and disaster preparedness equipment and archival supplies for a collection of 3,000 books, 286 bound editions of local newspapers, 380 postcards, 28 ledgers and scrapbooks, and maps, letters, documents, photographs, paintings, and artifacts related to Auburn, New York.  Auburn was home to national companies such as International Harvester and Columbian Rope, as well as important social, political, and economic figures.  Notable items include ledgers from colonial and 19^th-century New York; stereoscope cards documenting daily life in the time of William Seward and Harriet Tubman; views of the town during the 1929 Auburn Prison riots; files on central New York railroads, prisons, and schools; and early to mid-19^th century almanacs, playbills, and theatre ads.  Materials are used by genealogists, teachers, K-12 and college students, and professors.  The activities proposed were recommended in a 2017 preservation assessment.

The Seymour Public Library in Auburn, NY is requesting $4,738 for preservation equipment and supplies for the care of its historical collections.   Auburn, referred to as "History's Hometown," was the residence of notable Americans including William Seward, Harriet Tubman, and inventor Theodore Case.  Our collections, which document the history of the area from the early 1800s to the present day, highlight the political, social, and economic context in which these and other local individuals lived.  Based on a 2017 Preservation Needs Assessment by DHPSNY, we are requesting funding for equipment to monitor temperature, humidity, and light; light filtering materials; basic disaster preparedness supplies; and archival-quality materials for rehousing and protecting our photographs, stereoscope cards, postcards, pamphlets, letters, scrapbooks, ledgers, and bound newspapers.  NEH funding will assist us in preserving our collections for use by an increasing number of visitors and researchers.