Rehousing the Elkhart County Historical Society's Archives

FAIN: PG-50989-10

Elkhart County Historical Society, Inc. (Bristol, IN 46507-0434)
Nicholas James Hoffman (Project Director: May 2009 to March 2011)

Funding supports the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and storage cabinets for oversized collections as well as consultant expenses to ensure proper equipment use. The society's collections include sources of wide interest for local history, along with a unique collection of photographs of the Nuremberg Trials originally taken by an Elkhart County resident.

The Elkhart County Historical Society, Inc. requests a 2010 NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Small Museums to improve the preservation and storage of its archives. The request includes the purchase of a flat file storage cabinet, archival material for oversized paper-based items, environmental monitoring equipment, and a museum vacuum. This grant also requests consultation by Senior Director of Conservation at the Indiana Historical Society Ramona Duncan Huse to install the dataloggers, provide training on the vacuum, and teach construction of storage mounts. In June 2008, the organization broke ground on a 5,800 square foot building annex devoted to the storage and preservation of its collection. Simultaneously, the museum has revised its collection policies and training curriculum to ensure professional conservation principles are enacted. With support from the NEH, the ECHS will re-house its archives and provide a new era in the preservation of local history!