National-Louis University Preservation Assistance

FAIN: PG-50781-10

National-Louis University (Chicago, IL 60603-6191)
Mark Burnette (Project Director: May 2009 to January 2012)

A preservation assessment of the university's audiovisual and still image collections held in its Archives and Special Collections that document the history of progressive education in Chicago since 1890. The collection includes research materials on the history of the kindergarten and Montessori schools and the activities of education leaders such as Francis Parker, Margaret Haley, and John Dewey.

This grant will enable the National-Louis University (NLU) Archives and Special Collections to engage a professional consultant to assess the current condition and preservation needs of its audio-visual collections: audio and video tapes, phonograph records, photographs (including scrapbooks) and negatives, film, film strips. This assessment, supplemented by environmental data (temperature and relative humidity) we have been collecting in the storage area since October 2007, will provide information necessary in planning for the preservation of this portion of the Archives and Special Collections. This assessment will be conducted by Carla Montori, formerly of the University of Michigan Library, who has decades of experience in the field of preservation.