Preserving the Collections of the State Library of Massachusetts through Preservation Enclosures and Environmental Monitoring

FAIN: PG-50863-10

Massachusetts State Library (Boston, MA 02133-1099)
Elvernoy Johnson (Project Director: May 2009 to October 2011)

Funding supports the purchase of preservation supplies and environmental monitoring equipment, in accord with recommendations made in a recent NEH-supported preservation assessment. The library houses an extensive collection of publications, maps, and documents dealing with the political and cultural history of Massachusetts from the early 1800s to present.

The State Library of Massachusetts requests a Preservation Assistance Grant of $6,000 to purchase supplies to provide preservation quality enclosures for library collections, and to purchase environmental monitoring devices and related software. This project has two goals: 1) to address long term, systemic environmental issues by recording temperature and humidity data for library storage spaces as a basis for library administrators and facilities staff to address environmental improvements for storage spaces and 2) to address short term environmental issues at the item level by providing preservation quality enclosures for research-valuable library collections housed in storage areas that are most impacted by environmental fluctuations and light damage. The two goals of this project speak directly to short and long term priorities outlined in the library's 2009 preservation survey, made possible in part by a NEH Preservation Assistance Grant awarded in 2009.