Improve Environmental Storage for Collections

FAIN: PG-263583-19

McLean County Historical Society (Bloomington, IL 61701-3912)
Emma Meyer (Project Director: May 2018 to present)

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.