Purchase Environmental Monitoring Equipment and Preservation Materials to Preserve Photographic Collection

FAIN: PG-51612-12

Keeneland Foundation (Lexington, KY 40510-9662)
Rebecca Jeane Ryder (Project Director: May 2011 to April 2014)

The purchase of preservation supplies to rehouse 40,000 photographic negatives in the Bert T. Morgan Collection that documents both the public view and "backside" of the history of thoroughbred racing in New York and Florida from 1935 to 1961 and that is used extensively by historians and journalists. Environmental monitors recommended by the consultant would also be purchased. The project follows recommendations from a 2010 Preservation Assistance Grant that evaluated the collection and determined the most critical needs of the photo archives.

The Preservation Assistance Grant will support the purchase of preservation supplies to re-house photographic negatives in the Bert T. Morgan collection housed at the Keeneland Library. The grant will also support the purchase of PEM2 dataloggers to launch an environmental monitoring program. The Library’s photograph collections are housed in a very good and stable environment, but the vault space is 95% full and an expansion of the vault or the construction of a new cold storage room must be considered. The environmental monitoring data will establish a baseline of the performance of the current HVAC. Ongoing, the data will help ensure the proper environmental conditions for storage. Work on the Morgan Collection will begin on January 2012 and will continue for one year. This work continues the project initiated in 2011 with a PAG award. The PEM2 monitoring will begin in January 2012 and will be ongoing.