Preserving Collections Related to Early Rural Life on Long Island, New York

FAIN: PG-51613-12

John Jermain Memorial Library (Sag Harbor, NY 11963-3043)
Jessica Ann Frankel (Project Director: May 2011 to December 2014)

Purchasing storage furniture to rehouse and preserve collections of books, maps, photographs, diaries, and whaling logs used in research and exhibitions on the history and culture of Sag Harbor, New York, from the eighteenth century to the present.

The collection, housed in the History Room of the John Jermain Memorial Library (JJML), Sag Harbor, NY, represents a unique look at life in the region from the 1700’s to present. It includes books, maps, photographs, personal diaries, and whaling logs and is not duplicated in any other collection that is available to the public. The library received a Preservation Assistance Grant in 2010. This enabled it to start Phase I, a physical evaluation of its History Room collection by a consultant who described long and short term repair and storage needs and addressed the next step for the improvement of housing and access to the History Room collection. This next step, Phase II, addresses the appropriate furniture and shelving needs for the History Room's new space, which will be located in a new section of the library, as part of a library renovation/addition scheduled for completion in 2013. Phase II needs for the History Room are not included in annual or building project funding.