Senator Charles E. Schumer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2009

SCHUMER ANNOUNCES $265,000 SAVE AMERICA'S TREASURES GRANT TO RESTORE THE ALLAN HERSCHELL CARROUSEL FACTORY MUSEUM

Federal Grant for Preservation and Conservation of National Historic Sites Awarded for Restoration of North Tonawanda Treasure

Funds Will Be Used to Restore 100 Year Old Facility

Schumer: Carrousel Museum is a Cultural Gem That Must Be Preserved for Future Generations

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that the Allan Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum has received a $265,000 grant from the National Park Service’s “Save America’s Treasures” (SAT) grant program. The program is one of the largest and most successful grant programs for the protection of the nation’s irreplaceable and endangered cultural heritage. Funds will be used to restore the 100 year-old facility in North Tonawanda. In August, Senator Schumer wrote a letter of support for the Carrousel Society of the Niagara Frontier’s application for a SAT grant.

“The Allan Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum is a cultural and historic gem,” said Schumer. “This funding will help protect the numerous artifacts and archives that are housed and exhibited at the museum for generations to come. It is critical that we protect these priceless treasures and I will continue to support programs that help preserve our nation’s history.”

The Allan Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum is housed in a building that was originally constructed in 1905. In 1915, the building was purchased by and expanded by the Allan Herschell Company, makers of Carrousels and amusement rides of all types. The Carrousel Society purchased the building in 1984, and since then has worked diligently to preserve the Carrousel building complex. The factory building is one of only two surviving buildings in which hand-carved Carrousels were produced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

With funding from the National Parks Service, the Carrousel Society of the Niagara Frontier will be able to continue to preserve the main factory building by repairing and replacing the wooden trusses that support the most significant pieces of the Allan Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum’s exhibit. Funding will also help the museum replace the eighty year-old dry sprinkler system.

Save America’s Treasures Grants are available for preservation and conservation work on nationally significant intellectual and cultural artifacts and historic structures and sites. Intellectual and cultural artifacts include artifacts, collections, documents, sculpture, and works of art. Historic structures and sites include historic districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects. The grants are awarded to Federal, state, local, and tribal government entities, and non-profit organizations through a competitive matching-grant program, administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

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