Business History Collections Preservation Project

FAIN: PG-50767-10

Virginia Museum of History & Culture (Richmond, VA 23220-3307)
Paulette F. Schwarting (Project Director: May 2009 to June 2011)

Funding supports the purchase of preservation supplies for unique business history publications from the society's general collections, identified as physically at risk in a previous collection survey. Examples include a 19th-century trade association volume, a Civil War-era economic statistical report, and an 1890s polemical pamphlet on a proposed grocery tax in Virginia.

The Virginia Historical Society (VHS) respectfully requests a $6,000 NEH grant to rehouse a portion of the business history holdings of the VHS. This grant will support the preservation of published business history materials which are housed in the general collections of the library of the Virginia Historical Society. An item level survey has been prepared by the project director which notes the exact number and type of preservation housing required. Virginia was founded as an economic venture by the Virginia Company of London in 1607. Our business history collections trace the economic story of Virginia- and the country- from this point through the present day, serving as a lens to understand our national economic history from Jamestown through the World Wars and into the global service economy.