Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions

Brigham Young University held a preservation workshop to assist sixteen cultural repositories in Utah—including academic libraries and museums, the state government and local governments, historic sites, and religious archives—in managing and preserving their extensive digital collections. These collections include ancient texts, newspapers from states in the American West, genealogical materials, European political pamphlets, and artwork. The two-day workshop was intended to foster the ability to exercise practical and responsible stewardship of the state’s digital assets.

The Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collections and Archives (SCA) and the Digital Initiatives Department at Utah State University library received a grant for a preservation assessment of their holdings. The holdings—which include 18,000 linear feet of textual materials, 350,000 photographs, 60,000 books, 5,300 audio recordings, and over one thousand architectural drawings—document the history of Utah and the Intermountain West, agriculture and natural resource management, and American folklore. These collections form the basis for the University's Digital Library, with over half a million digital files arranged in thirty subject collections. The consultant will evaluate and report on the library facility and the condition of the SCA collections and their storage environments and will also propose policies and strategies for preserving digital collections.

The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, hired a consultant to identify the preservation needs of the university's archives. For the first time in the archives' history, a preservation professional assessed the archives and recommended measures to preserve the collections. The archives contain photographs, manuscripts, videos, and print material that document the late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century history of Mobile and southwestern Alabama. The collection includes the records of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court of Alabama (ca. 1830-1917); the records of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (1840-1980); the papers of Congressman Jack Edwards; and the records of many local associations, such as the Mobile Audubon Society and the Civil Rights era's Non-Partisan Voter's League.

The Oneida Nation Museum in Oneida, Wisconsin, hired a preservation consultant to develop a plan for improving the storage of the museum's collection. The collection contains items made by or related to the Oneida Tribe and the Iroquois Confederacy and includes photographs, audio and video tapes, and material culture objects, such as beadwork on leather, woven textiles, and turtle shell objects. The need for improved storage was documented in a preservation assessment that was completed in 1999. The consulting conservator visited the museum and helped the staff plan the configuration of two storage rooms, identify the number and types of storage cabinets, shelving units, and supplies needed to rehouse the collection, and secure estimates for implementing the project. In addition, the museum purchased equipment for monitoring the environmental conditions in its storage and exhibition spaces.

Jamestown College in Jamestown, North Dakota, received a grant to purchase three ranges of shelving to house its archives and local history collections. The college allocated space for the archives, but the lack of shelving to house the materials hindered continued organization of the collection and access to it. The collection includes the college's historical records, folklore archives, local history books and photographs, and the papers of prominent community figures.

With a grant in 2004, a staff member from Lees-McRae College will attend the Georgia Archives Institute to study archives administration and preservation. In addition, the college will purchase preservation supplies to care for 675 linear feet of books, pamphlets, and photographs related to the history of Appalachia from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The holdings document the missionary experience in the Southern Appalachians and include literary works by local authors. In 2002, the applicant received a Preservation Assistance Grant to conduct a preservation needs assessment and develop a long-range plan for the care of the collections. A consultant from SOLINET, the Southeastern Library Network, carried out the work for that successful project and recommended the activities to be conducted with the current grant.

The Weston County Museum District in Newcastle, Wyoming, received a grant to support on-site consultation with a conservator and preservation training for its staff, board members, and volunteers. The museum district is comprised of two museums located in northeastern Wyoming. The Anna Miller Museum in Newcastle, named after the daughter of an early pioneer family, displays collections in historic cabins and a schoolhouse dating from the 1890s. In Upton, Wyoming, the Red Onion Museum is named for an old time saloon. The collections of these two museums number more than 100,000 items and include Native American material culture, mining equipment, vehicles, clothing, agricultural implements, pharmacy and medical equipment, photographs, and archival materials. Exhibitions and educational programs developed for primary and secondary school children tell the story of the settlement of Wyoming and the "boom-and-bust" lifestyle of some of the small towns in the region.