FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Updated September 2, 2008
IMLS Press Contacts
202-653-4632
Jeannine Mjoseth, jmjoseth@imls.gov
Mamie Bittner, mbittner@imls.gov
IMLS
Awards $3 million For Critical Conservation at Nation’s
Museums
WASHINGTON, DC--Anne-Imelda
M. Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS), announced the 39 museum recipients of
the 2008 Conservation Project Support (CPS) grants totaling
$3 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
(www.heritagepreservation.org/CAP).
“These museums lead the field in
executing conservation activities such as surveys, training,
treatment, and environmental improvements,” Radice
said. “By offering coverage of a wide range of eligible
projects, the CPS program responds to institutions’
on-the-ground needs.”
The Heritage Health Index, a 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 grant support of conservation projects, IMLS
launched Connecting
to Collections: A Call to Action, a multi-year conservation
initiative that aims to increase public awareness of the
importance of collections care.
CPS grant recipients will match their awards
with an additional $4.47 million. This year, the Institute
received 120 applications for a wide range of projects,
including conservation treatment, training, and surveys.
Museums nationwide of all disciplines, from
art to zoo, are among today's recipients. Click
here for a full list of grant recipients by state.
Conservation Project Support grant recipients
include:
The Preservation Society of Newport
County, Rhode Island’s largest cultural
institution, will conduct an environmental survey of its
ten historic houses. These important homes, subject year
after year to the harsh conditions of the northeast coastline,
will be individually assessed to determine how to make
the sites safe for collections but still comfortable for
the visiting public. The 23 buildings and 80 acres are
open to the public for tours and collectively tell the
story of Newport from Colonial times through the Gilded
Age of the late 19th century.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York City will conserve the highest priority
ceramic, glass and stucco objects from excavations at
Iranian city of Nishapur, perhaps the most important assemblage
of such archaeological materials in the United States.
The pieces, created between the 9th and 13th centuries
BCE and excavated between 1935-1940, are in fragile condition.
After conservation, they will be installed in the new
Islamic Art Galleries and Study Center, scheduled to open
in 2011.
The Denver Museum of Nature and
Science will improve the environmental conditions
of its collection of Latin American costumes by purchasing
new museum and archival standard storage cabinets. Proper
storage of these items will create new opportunities for
research and public outreach. The Denver of Museum of
Nature and Science is the leading resource for informal
science education and covers six main fields of anthropology,
geology, health science, paleontology, space science and
zoology.
The Midway Village and Museum Center
in Rockford, IL, will purchase and install new
shelving units to furnish its storage room. The portion
of the collection impacted includes furniture, photographs
and baskets. Founded in 1968, the purpose of the Midway
Village and Museum is to collect, preserve and interpret
the history of the Rockford area. Proper housing of its
collection will allow its valuable artifacts to be more
effectively utilized by the museum and increasingly accessible
to the public.
The next deadline for the CPS grants is
October 1, 2008. To learn more, please visit www.imls.gov/applicants/grants/ConservProject.shtm
and direct questions to Christine Henry, Senior Program
Officer 202/653-4674; chenry@imls.gov.
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