Preservation of Land Plans and Historic Photographic Collections

FAIN: PG-51216-11

Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Boston, MA 02114-2119)
Judith Elizabeth Greene (Project Director: May 2010 to August 2013)

The purchase of preservation supplies and storage equipment for a collection of land development records and park service photographs. Holdings include over 50,000 architectural and engineering plans and drawings for Boston-area bridges, dams, parkway layouts, recreational facilities, and landscape projects documenting the work of the nation's oldest metropolitan park system, established in 1893. Also included are several thousand photographs illustrating forestry work, fire fighting, Civilian Conservation Corps projects, and public events at state parks throughout Massachusetts from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Archival Management Program of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation requests NEH support to purchase archival supplies and storage furniture to re-house important collections of land plans and historic photographs. The land plans document the takings, easements, and boundaries of state-owned park lands and water supply and flood control systems. Preserving these plans will make them more accessible and provide researchers with a wealth of information about the history of public land ownership and the changing topography of park lands and watersheds in Massachusetts. The three photographic collections document 19th and 20th century public architecture and early landscape designs in the nation's first metropolitan park system and trace the development of the statewide forest and park systems in Massachusetts. Both projects will begin in January 2011 and be completed by June 2012.