IMLS Conservation Project Grants

Institute of Museum and Library Services Awards Almost $5 million
For Critical Conservation at Nation's Museums

Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Ph.D., Director of the U.S. Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS), announced the 65 museum
recipients of the 2007 Conservation Project Support (CPS) grants
totaling $4.9 million. The grant program, which began in 1984, helps
museums identify conservation needs and priorities and perform
activities to ensure the safekeeping of its collections. Today,
Heritage Preservation also announced participants of their
IMLS-supported Conservation Assessment Program
(<URL:http://www.heritagepreservation.org/CAP>).

"The Conservation Project Support awards help museums develop
comprehensive strategies for the care of their collections,
safeguarding pieces of our nation's story, now and for future
generations," Radice said. A 2005 report conducted by IMLS and
Heritage Preservation found that immediate action is needed to
prevent the loss of millions of irreplaceable artifacts held by
archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and scientific
organizations.

In addition to its ongoing support of conservation through grants,
the Institute has launched Connecting to Collections: A Call to
Action. This multi-year conservation initiative aims to increase
public awareness of the importance of collections care. The
initiative will begin in Washington, D.C., with a June meeting of
library and museum representatives from every state.

Conservation Project Support grant recipients will match their
awards with an additional $8.9 million. This year, the Institute
received 172 applications for a wide range of projects, including
conservation treatment, training, and surveys. Eighteen of the 65
grant recipients are first-time CPS grantees. Ten of the recipients
won additional funding for a public education component to their
conservation project. Museums nationwide of all disciplines, from
art to zoo, are among today's recipients. Go to
<URL:http://www.imls.gov/news/2007/051007_list.shtm> for a full list
of grant recipients by state.

Conservation Project Support grant recipients include:

    The Museum of North Arizona, in Flagstaff, will conduct a
    detailed condition survey of 100 textiles and 90 to 135 Hopi
    katsina dolls. The grant will allow the museum to better assess
    the effectiveness and appropriateness of its current storage
    practices and develop storage and mounting plans to prevent
    deterioration. Grant amount: $8,924. Cost share: $8,924.

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation, in Washington,
    D.C., will conduct an environmental survey of the Woodrow Wilson
    House's building and existing mechanical systems to develop
    priorities for collections improvements and a strategy for
    mechanical upgrades. The Woodrow Wilson House is a national
    historic landmark and house that focuses on President Woodrow
    Wilson's Washington Years (1912-1924). Grant amount: $76,022.
    Cost share: $77,760.

    The Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI, will treat three important
    Hawaiian feather cloaks ('ahu 'ula). These cloaks were the
    sacred insignia of the Islands' highest ali'i (individuals of
    chiefly rank) and were created with small bundles of tiny
    feathers of indigenous birds secured to a netted foundation of
    twisted-fiber cordage. Grant amount: $28,447. Cost share:
    $28,537.

    The Chicago Zoological Society in Brookfield, IL, will conduct
    research to learn more about basic behavioral and physiological
    patterns of male and female okapi, a forest-dwelling hoofed
    mammal. The goal of this project is to develop management
    recommendations to improve the well-being of the captive okapi
    population. Grant amount: $249,922. Cost share: $320,174.

    The National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago will purchase and
    install new storage furniture in which to properly rehouse the
    museum's folk art collection. Represented in this collection of
    more than 700 objects are items indigenous to Mexico such as
    amate (hand-made bark paper), papier-mache or cartoneria (an
    ephemeral form of papier-mache used for festivals and holiday
    celebrations), and extremely brittle ceramics. Grant amount:
    $83,595. Cost Share: $90,000.

    The University of Iowa's Museum of Art in Iowa City will use its
    grant to conduct research on important components in
    15th-19th-century western paper, the results of which will allow
    conservators and other preservation specialists to make
    better-informed treatment and collections care decisions. The
    project will augment the William Barrow Laboratory's pioneering
    1974 analysis of 1,500 historical papers, but include certain
    analytical techniques not used or unavailable 30 years ago.
    Grant amount: $184,740. Cost Share: $220,938.

    The Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka will treat two
    Kansas Civil War battle flags carried by Kansas regiments at
    Prairie Grove, Arkansas. The flags are painted and depict
    numerous battle honors. One of the flags is from the first
    Kansas Battery, commanded by James Lane, one of the first U.S.
    Senators from Kansas and a fervent antislavery soldier. His unit
    attacked and looted Osceola, Missouri, an event that incited
    Confederate guerilla William Quantrill to later attack the town
    of Lawrence, Kansas, where Lane lived, killing 150 men and boys.
    Grant amount: $25,837. Cost Share: $25,913.

    The Louisiana Museum Foundation in New Orleans will purchase
    compact shelving, conservation materials, and supplies to
    rehouse the museum's collections. These collections will be
    returned to the museum from temporary storage where they were
    stored due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Grant amount:
    $150,000. Cost Share: $1,087,186.

    The New Orleans Museum of Art will purchase and install new
    storage cabinets to rehouse the museum's diverse permanent
    collections of furniture, photography, framed works on paper,
    textiles, small-scale sculpture, ethnographic, and decorative
    art that was removed from storage areas due to damage caused by
    hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Grant amount: $94,600. Cost Share:
    $97,900.

    The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston will treat wooden and
    polychromed wooden material excavated from an Egyptian tomb
    dated to about 2000 B.C. The tomb, filled with funerary
    equipment of a local governor and his wife, comprises one of the
    largest, most important reference collections for the study of
    ancient cultures along the Nile Valley. Grant amount: $131,537.
    Cost Share: $230,003.

    The Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, VT, will provide mid-career
    on-the-job training for a staff conservator and an advanced
    internship for a recent conservation graduate in folk art
    conservation. The intern will assist in the conservation of 27
    painted folk art panels from the museum's rare intact 1902
    carousel built by the Gustav A. Dentzel Carousel Company, and a
    1920's Artizan Factories carousel organ. This grant will also
    help to design, fabricate, and mount an exhibit on the
    conservation of the 900-piece hand-carved Arnold Circus Parade,
    the Dentzel carousel animals and rounding boards, and the
    Artizan Factories carousel organ. Preventive conservation
    actions taken throughout the museum's 27 collections buildings
    will also be highlighted and explained. Grant amount: $82,029.
    Cost Share: $89,114.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source
of federal support for the nation's 122,000 libraries and 17,500
museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and
museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute
works at the national level and in coordination with state and local
organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance
learning and innovation; and support professional development. To
learn more about the Institute, please visit
<URL:http://www.imls.gov>.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:4
                   Distributed: Friday, May 11, 2007
                        Message Id: cdl-21-4-002
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