Preservation Assessment for Barry University's Archives and Special Collections

FAIN: PG-52492-15

Barry University, Inc. (Miami, FL 33161-6695)
Ximena Gloria Valdivia (Project Director: May 2014 to September 2016)

A preservation assessment and the purchase of equipment to monitor environmental conditions for a collection of 5,400 rare books, along with 2,400 linear feet of manuscripts, photographs, sound recordings, maps, and other sources dating from the 17th century to the present.  Materials include the records of “Operation Pedro Pan / Cuban Children’s Program,” documenting efforts to resettle over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban exile minors in the early 1960s.  Also included are the papers of William Lehman, who served as a Florida congressman from 1972 to 1993.

The Archives and Special Collections at Barry University collects, preserves and provides access to significant collections of rare materials that support teaching and research within the core humanities disciplines of history, politics, and religious studies. NEH funding provided through this grant program will be used to hire a LYRASIS professional preservation consultant to conduct a preservation needs assessment of collections, environmental conditions, facilities, and current departmental preservation policies and procedures to provide baseline data for departmental preservation improvement planning. Additionally, funding will support installation of an automated environmental monitoring system that will continuously collect and report temperature and relative humidity within the areas that store humanities collections.