Palm Springs Art Museum - Architecture and Design Center Preservation Grant Project

FAIN: PG-52423-15

Palm Springs Desert Museum (Palm Springs, CA 92263-2288)
Alicia B. Thomas (Project Director: May 2014 to September 2016)

The preservation assessment of the Palm Springs Art Museum’s architecture and design collection, consisting of architectural drawings and archival materials focused on the Mid-Century Modern work of architects and builders such as Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, Donald Wexler, Arthur Elrod, and Patrick McGrew. The collection will be used in exhibitions at the new Palm Springs Art Museum, Architecture and Design Center, for scholarly research, and in publications that help to show the far reach of desert modernism, such as the original Museum of Modern Art building in New York City, designed by Frey.

Palm Springs Art Museum (PSAM) requests a grant of $ 6,000 to contract with a qualified consultant who will conduct an assessment of architectural drawings, blueprints, renderings, and archival documents within the permanent collection. Following assessment for physical condition and conservation needs, findings and recommendations will include: short-term remedial storage; security; pest monitoring and control; long term preservation; and environmental concerns. These activities will culminate in a Final Report, delivered within six (6) weeks and incorporated into a Disaster Plan and Collections Care and Conservation Policy by the museum at its new facility – The Architecture and Design Center. Access to the Architecture and Design Archive will assist preservationists; facilitate a more rigorous scholarship of mid-20th Century modern desert architecture; assist homeowners to incorporate modernist elements into their own properties; and for purposes of publication and catalogs.