Save America’s Treasures Solicits Applications for 2008

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities and the National Park Service are seeking applicants for the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) 2008 grant program. Eligible applicants include nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c), U.S. organizations, units of state or local government, and federally recognized Indian Tribes. To be considered for a SAT competitive grant, the collection or historic property benefiting from the funding must be nationally significant and meet the selection criteria. In 2007, the SAT competitive program made fifteen awards to institutions with collections, artifacts, artistic works or documents and another sixteen awards were made to organizations caring for structures and sites for a total of $7.6 million.

Save America’s Treasures competitive grants ensure that key pieces of America’s history like the Lincoln Cottage (above) and iconic masterworks like Thomas Sully’s The Passage of Delaware (below) are not lost to decay and neglect.

Save America’s Treasures is an innovative federal partnership dedicated to rescuing, preserving and conserving our nation’s most significant cultural and historical treasures. Last year’s grants for example, showcased a range of projects, representing different pieces of our national narrative. These included outstanding National Historic Landmarks like the Race Street Meeting House in Philadelphia, which served as an important platform for 19th-century women activists; fragile artistic treasures such as the choreographic works of Martha Graham and the musical legacy of Leonard Bernstein; and the Rev. R.O Taylor collection, which a opens a rare window on the lives of African-Americans in South from the 1920s to 1950s.

Under this program, grants are awarded for preservation and/or conservation work on nationally significant intellectual and cultural artifacts and nationally significant historic structures and sites. Grant amounts range from $25,000 to $700,000 to conserve collections and from $125,000 to $700,000 for historic property and sites projects. All the awards must be matched 1:1. Deadline for applications is 20 May 2008.

Beginning this year, Save America’s Treasures will be accepting on-line applications only through www.grants.gov, the federal government grant website. Paper applications will not be accepted. Applicants are asked to register on Grants.gov. Once your registration has been submitted, you can download the application package and begin filling out the various PDF forms. Once the registration is confirmed, which can take several weeks, applicants can then submit their final application through Grants.gov.

The Save America’s Treasures (SAT) competitive grants are administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The federal partners are joined in their efforts by Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has been the program's principal private partner since its beginning, raising private matching funds for projects, providing resources and assistance to a host of SAT grantees and preservation projects all across the country.

For Additional Information
Applicants can address questions to staff at the following agencies.

For Collections Projects

Michael McLaughlin
National Endowment for the Arts
Phone: 202/682-5457
E-mail: mclaughm@arts.gov
Web: arts.endow.gov

Laura Word
National Endowment for the Humanities
Phone: 202/606-8570
E-mail: lword@neh.gov
Web: www.neh.gov

Christine Henry
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Phone: 202/653-4641
E-mail : chenry@imls.gov
Web : www.imls.gov

For Historic Property Projects
National Park Service
Phone: 202/354-2020
E-mail: NPS_treasures@nps.gov
Web: www2.cr.nps.gov/hps/hpg