Schenectady County Historical Society Collections Storage Project

FAIN: PG-51908-13

Schenectady County Historical Society (Schenectady, NY 12305-1601)
Ryan Mahoney (Project Director: May 2012 to October 2013)

Purchase of a compact storage system and rehousing supplies for a local history collection that is housed at the Mabee Farm Historic Site, one of the properties of the Schenectady County Historical Society. The 6,500-item artifact collection reflects rural life along the Mohawk River of upstate New York and the industrial revolution from the 18th to the 21st century, and is used in the interpretation of slavery in New York, farm life, the Erie Canal, and industrial development. The project follows on recommendations from a previous assessment and would improve storage conditions for a collection that is widely used in public and educational programming in the region.

The Schenectady County Historical Society (SCHS) is requesting $4,005 in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions for the purchase of a Steel Sliding Storage System for installation in our George E. Franchere Education Center located at the Mabee Farm Historic Site. This compact storage system was specifically chosen to effectively utilize the limited storage space currently available to many of our most important and delicate artifacts. This request is directly related to our collections care needs identified through assessment activities undertaken at Schenectady County Historical Society under the Conservation Assessment Program.