Preservation Assessment of Lake States Railway Historical Association's Archival Collections

FAIN: PG-51237-11

Lake States Railway Historical Association (Baraboo, WI 53913-2568)
Donald Ginter (Project Director: May 2010 to April 2012)

A general preservation assessment to address the association's archival holdings, which include over 100 collections containing corporate records, route maps, government and industry publications, labor meeting notes and union contracts, drawings, and blueprints documenting the history of the railroads and industries of the upper Great Lakes region in the 19th and 20th centuries.

An experienced archive consultant will be contracted to conduct a general preservation assessment of our collections, evaluate the current collections management policy, and help the Collections Management Committee (CMC) draft a long-range plan for the proper care of collection items. This grant will fund two visits to our archive in Baraboo. The first visit is intended to assess our policies, practices, and conditions that positively and negatively affect the care and preservation of our current and future collections and the second is intended to address any questions or missing information. The archive consultant will prepare a report summarizing his findings and prioritizing proposed future preservation actions to the organization. Specific concerns are: environmental, fire, and security; preservation needs of archival and business document holdings; storage and re-housing plans; and conservation treatment needs of selected items in the collection.