White House Millennium Council Announces Recipients of "Save America's Treasures" Grants

The White House Millennium Council has announced that 47 projects in 31 different states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been awarded federal funding under "Save America's Treasures," a program that highlights the importance of preserving America's cultural heritage. Grants totaling nearly $12 million are being awarded to 41 nonprofit organizations across the nation to support an array of projects including preservation of endangered sites, collections, monuments and works of art. These 41 projects were selected by a national panel of preservation experts based on recommendations from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). An additional $3 million will support historic preservation work at six federal sites in various parts of the country. A complete list of the 47 projects is attached.

"Save America's Treasures" was launched in 1998 as a public-private partnership of the White House Millennium Council, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Park Service to protect the nation's threatened cultural resources. Congress appropriated $15 million for competitive "Save America's Treasures" grants in Fiscal Year 2000. The grants support nationally significant intellectual and cultural artifacts and nationally significant historic structures and sites. All grants must be matched dollar-for-dollar from nonfederal sources.

"Each of us does have a responsibility to safeguard our history and pass it down to our children and our children's children. Save America's Treasures has been a vital part of our efforts to encourage more Americans to give lasting gifts to the future," said First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"The National Endowment for the Humanities is delighted to be a partner in the Save America's Treasures initiative," said NEH Chairman William Ferris. "Preservation of national cultural treasures for future generations is a major part of NEH's mission, and it is a special pleasure to work with our distinguished colleagues in the federal and nonprofit sectors."

"The National Endowment for the Arts is very pleased to be a part of Save America's Treasures," said NEA Chairman Bill Ivey. "Preserving the nation's cultural heritage is an integral part of our mission, and these grants will help conserve important elements of America's past throughout the country."

"The Institute of Museum and Library Services was pleased to lend its expertise to this effort to "Save America's Treasures," said Beverly Sheppard, Acting Director of the IMLS. "This wise investment in our treasured national resources will help to tell the story of our cultural heritage for generations to come."

AWARD LIST

Arkansas

Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock
Award amount: $ 500,000
Central High School was the first important test for implementation of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision. This National Historic Landmark has become a symbol of the end of racially segregated public schools in the United States. The school is experiencing extensive material failures - crumbling ceiling and wall plaster, basement and foundation problems, deteriorating roofs - due to moisture infiltration. Funds will be used to eliminate moisture sources and to repair damaged plaster.

Arizona

"Saving Southwest Traditions: The Pottery Project," Arizona State Museum, Tucson
Award amount: $ 400,000
The Arizona State Museum houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of Southwest Native American ceramics in the world. Storage facilities lacking environmental controls threaten the collection. If left unchecked, these irreplaceable objects could disintegrate. Funding will support appropriate museum storage and protection and conservation work on individual pieces.

California

Angel Island Immigration Station, Tiburon
Award amount: $ 500,000
A National Historic Landmark, Angel Island Immigration Station served as the primary West Coast port of entry for immigrants to the United States. Chinese immigrants detained at the station carved poetry into the walls of the barracks, leaving an invaluable historical record of the Pacific immigration experience. Long-term deterioration and water damage threaten the structural integrity of the buildings. Many of the inscriptions have weathered to the point that they are barely legible. Funding will enable stabilization of the buildings and conservation work to ensure that the poetry is not lost.

Knight Foundry Water-Powered Iron Works, Sutter Creek
Award amount: $ 250,000
One of the few intact late-19th-century industrial workplaces, Knight Foundry is powered by Knight Water Motors, the direct-drive water turbines invented by founder Samuel Knight. In continuous operation as a foundry, pattern shop and machine shop from 1872 to 1996, it is a repository of nearly extinct foundry skills. Structural decay and water damage threaten the building and the collection of patterns, tools and machinery. Funding will support stabilization of the buildings and machinery restoration.

Colorado

Old First National Bank, Telluride
Award amount: $ 250,000
The Old First National Bank is a key structure in Telluride's National Historic Landmark District, which is significant for its 19th-century "Boomtown" architecture. Designed by prominent Colorado architect James Murdoch, the building also housed the Telluride Power Company, operator of the first commercial alternating current power plant. The bank's masonry facades have deteriorated over time and have suffered damage due to inappropriate repairs. This grant will address these problems.

The District of Columbia

The Charter Murals, National Archives Building, Washington, D.C.
Award amount: $ 500,000
The Charter Murals, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States, were completed by artist Barry Faulkner in 1936. Located in the National Archives Rotunda above the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, these murals are viewed by hundreds of visitors each day. Protruding bulges from fallen plaster mar the murals, and years of dirt build-up have dulled them. In conjunction with a major renovation of the Rotunda, this grant will support comprehensive conservation treatment of the murals.

Dance Heritage Coalition
Award amount: $ 90,000
Katherine Dunham Archives, East St. Louis, Illinois
Hulla Huhm Dance Collection, Honolulu, Hawaii
Gertrude Kurath, Eleanor King, and Kealiinohomoku Collections, Flagstaff, Arizona
These dance collections require urgent attention to conserve their historic costumes, musical instruments, and historic photographs. Storage facilities lack climate control, threatening the records of grass-roots dance troops' collections. Funds will address these problems and ensure the preservation of these important African American, Korean American and Native American traditions.

Historic Sound Recording Collections of the American People, Smithsonian Institution
Award amount: $ 750,000
Together the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress hold the largest and most significant collections of audio recordings documenting the American experience from the 1890s to present. These collections contain icons of American oratory, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, and tens of thousands of recordings of every genre of American spoken word and music. Many elements of the collections are in poor condition and could be lost due to unstable original media. This grant will support conservation of the original recordings and copying to stable formats.

Anderson Cottage, United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home
Award amount: $ 750,000
Built in 1842-43, Anderson Cottage was the country home of George W. Riggs, a prominent banker in Washington, D.C. In 1851, it became part of the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home. Anderson Cottage was a summer retreat for Presidents Buchanan, Lincoln, Hayes and Arthur. Funds will support restoration of the Cottage for use as a learning center dedicated to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, who wrote the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation there.

Hawaii

USS Missouri, Honolulu
Award amount: $ 300,000
The USS Missouri is the last bombardment battleship to be completed for the United States Navy, as well as the last that remained in service. The formal instrument of Japanese surrender that ended World War II was signed aboard the USS Missouri. The ship last served in the Persian Gulf during the 1991 Operation Desert Storm. Corrosion of the superstructure and the wear of 400,000 visitors in one year have taken a toll on the ship. Funding will enable the USS Missouri Memorial Association to address these issues and enable this popular historic ship to remain available to the public.

Illinois

Cahokia Mounds Archaeological Collection, Illinois State Museum, Springfield
Award amount: $ 55,000
The Cahokia Site is one of the most important pre-Columbian archaeological sites in North America. The well-preserved artifact-bearing deposits at the site chronicle the development of one of the first urban centers in the Western Hemisphere. Inadequate storage facilities and collection management practices have resulted in damage and loss to components of the collection recovered from the National Historic Landmark site. This grant will help support appropriate housing and conservation of the collection.

Edward E. Ayer American Indian History Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago
Award amount: $ 125,000
The Edward E. Ayer Collection, the most comprehensive collection of manuscripts, maps, artifacts, paintings and photographs about Native Americans. The collection is in great demand by scholars, and funding will stabilize and preserve the collection so that it will remain available for research.

Glessner House, Chicago
Award amount: $ 250,000
The 1886 Glessner House is one of the last and most mature of noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson's residential designs. Many of the furnishings are original to this National Historic Landmark house. The lack of an adequate climate control system has resulted in damage to interior finishes and furnishings. Funds will support conservation of deteriorated historic materials and enable the installation of a climate control system.

Frederick C. Robie House, Chicago
Award amount: $ 250,000
Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Robie House is one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture. Completed in 1910, the building was a catalyst for a revolution in domestic architecture, presaging many of the developments and styles that would arise throughout the 20th century. Like nearly all of Wright's flat-roofed structures, the National Historic Landmark Robie House suffers from water infiltration that is damaging its interior features. Funding will correct the water penetration and repair damage to the interior.

Indiana

Indiana Cotton Mill, Cannelton
Award amount: $ 250,000
Begun in 1849, the Indiana Cotton Mill was one of the first American mill buildings to wed utility and aesthetics. Steam powered the mill, an innovation at a time when most mills used waterpower. This National Historic Landmark is constructed of native Indiana sandstone and has been vacant for several decades. Funds will be used to restore the building.

Iowa

Woodbury County Courthouse, Sioux City
Award amount: $ 300,000
A National Historic Landmark, the Woodbury County Courthouse is the largest Prairie School style structure in the nation. It epitomizes the theories, design and presentation of this purely American style of architecture. Water infiltration has resulted in extensive damage to structural elements and interior finishes and features. Funding will repair and restore the internal structural elements, decorative plaster ceilings, leaded glass windows, fixtures and stenciling.

Kansas

Chase County Courthouse, Cottonwood Falls
Award amount: $ 250,000
The 1873 Chase County Courthouse represents the Kansas settlement period and is the oldest continuously operating courthouse in the state. This Second Empire building is constructed of native limestone. Funds will support completion of a restoration that will enable the building to continue to serve the community.

Louisiana

African House, Yucca House and Prudhomme-Roquier House, Natchitoches
Award amount: $ 250,000
These three National Historic Landmarks are key components of the Cane River National Heritage Area. Dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, they represent the Creole and African American architectural and cultural traditions of the area and era. Each building suffers moisture and structural problems. Funds will be used to halt deterioration of these important structures.

Maryland

Sotterley Plantation, Hollywood
Award amount: $ 400,000
A National Historic Landmark, Sotterley Plantation is an intact fabric of landscape, architecture and archaeological holdings. The structures and features that comprise this 90-acre site date from the 18th through the early 20th centuries and include the 1717 Manor House and a rare surviving slave cabin. Funds will be used to correct structural failures in several buildings and restore damage done by moisture and insects.

Massachusetts

American Antiquarian Society Library, Worcester
Award amount: $ 400,000
Established to collect, preserve and make available for study all materials printed in the United States prior to 1877, the American Antiquarian Society is the nation's third oldest historical society. Lack of a fire suppression system in the Society's 1910 building and antiquated storage facilities threaten these irreplaceable collections. This grant will enable this National Historic Landmark institution to address these concerns.

Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield
Award amount: $ 400,000
Constructed in 1903, the Colonial Theatre has been considered one of the best acoustical theatres in the nation. Maintained in a controlled state of deterioration by a long-term owner, the theatre needs a comprehensive restoration to return it to its former grandeur. Funding of this restoration will enable the theatre to once again host the performances for which it became famous.

Orchard House, Concord
Award amount: $ 400,000
This 300-year old National Historic Landmark was the family home of Louisa May Alcott and the setting for her autobiographical classic, Little Women. Literary greats such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau were frequent visitors. A large collection of archival materials, including books, papers, photographs, and artwork, remains in the house. Lack of climate control, improper storage and water infiltration threaten the collection. Funds will be used to address these problems.

Michigan

Cranbrook House, Bloomfield Hills
Amount awarded: $300,000
Built between 1908 and 1920, the Albert Kahn-designed Cranbrook House is an outstanding example of early 20th-century design and craftsmanship. Cranbrook House was the residence of George and Ellen Booth, founders of the Cranbrook Educational Community, an idealist institution dedicated to combating shoddy machine-age goods by making beautiful objects and creating architectural settings with the finest quality details. This National Historic Landmark house contains fine art, antiques and unique examples of the Arts and Crafts movement. Funding will support restoration of portions of the roof, terrace and plaza deck.

Missouri

St. Louis Civil Court Records, St. Louis
Award amount: $ 175,000
The St. Louis Civil Court Records form a premier judicial collection documenting westward expansion during the territorial and early statehood period, 1790-1830. This collection, which has been largely inaccessible for two centuries, records the legal basis of the early court system, profiles nationally prominent individuals and illustrates broad themes of American intellectual and social history. Funds will be used for conservation treatments that will make the documents available for research and study.

Mississippi

Grand Opera House of Missisippi, Meridian
Award amount: $ 400,000
The Grand Opera House, built in 1889-90 by noted theater designer J.B. McElfatrick, is an excellent example of a second-floor opera house. McElfatrick designs include the National Theater in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Funds will support the restoration of the Opera House and enable it to reopen as a performing arts center.

Montana

Butte - Silver Bow Public Archives, Butte
Award amount: $ 50,000
Government records of the city of Butte are an outstanding collection of city council minutes, correspondence, petitions, reports of various agencies, coroner reports and other public documents. They provide a context for the study of settlement, development and industrial growth of the American West and are particularly important to the study of mining and labor in America. Funds will support conservation and appropriate storage of the records, making 100 volumes of documents and over 150,000 rare, primary source images available to scholars.

Nevada

Stewart Indian Boarding School Historic District, Carson City
Award amount: $ 250,000
Founded in 1890, the Stewart Indian Boarding School served Native American students until 1980. The campus and buildings constructed of colorful native Nevada stone are a rare intact ensemble. The site now houses a museum and other teaching activities. Deferred maintenance since the school's closing hastened the deterioration of its buildings, and funds will be used to address for restoration needs.

New Hampshire

Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury
Award amount: $ 250,000
Canterbury Shaker Village includes 25 historic buildings and hundreds of acres of fields, ponds, and forests. The 1793 Dwelling House, one of only two remaining 18th-century Shaker dwelling houses, is the largest and most endangered building in this National Historic Landmark complex. Continuously occupied until the last Canterbury Sister died in 1992, the Dwelling House suffers from decades of deferred maintenance and long-term structural damage due to failing roofs. Funds will be used to repair roofs and address other preservation needs to avert additional damage.

New Jersey

Laundry and Hospital Outbuilding at Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument
Award amount: $ 500,000
Ellis Island was the country's principal immigration station from 1892 to 1954. The Laundry and Hospital Outbuilding, part of the first major integrated hospital complex of the early 20th century, was designed by James Knox Taylor, Architect of the Department of the Treasury Department. Vacant for decades, the building is in extremely poor condition with a collapsed roof and some major structural damage. Funds will support restoration of the roof and masonry and replacement of windows and doors.

New Mexico

Feather Cave Complex Collections Archeological Collections, Albuquerque
Award amount: $ 75,000
The collection recovered from the Feather Cave Complex sites represents the most complete assemblage of perishable prehistoric materials, including miniature and full-size bows and arrows, feathers, wooden balls, sandals, bone and shell beads and basketry fragments. It also provides incomparable data for research into the origins and development of indigenous traditional practices in the Americas. Subjected to temperature and humidity fluctuations and contact with corrosive agents, the collections' artifacts deteriorate and their research and educational value diminishes. Funds will support conservation treatments and appropriate storage facilities.

New York

Harriet Tubman Historic Sites, Auburn
Award amount: $ 450,000
Harriet Tubman was one of the recognized leaders of the Underground Railroad. The original wood frame house she occupied upon settling in Auburn in 1858 was later improved with brick. Nearby is the National Historic Landmark Home for the Aged that Tubman established for aged and indigent African Americans. These and several other structures associated with Tubman's life and work have deteriorated to the point that major restoration is needed. This grant will support the restoration.

The Tenement at 97 Orchard Street, New York
Award amount: $ 250,000
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum is the first museum in the country to interpret the home and community life of urban, working class and poor immigrants. Housed in the tenement at 97 Orchard Street, the museum focuses on tenement life in the second half of the 19th and first decades of the 20th century. Funding will be used to complete the tenement's restoration, making the entire building available to the public for the first time.

Records of the United States Sanitary Commission, New York
Award amount: $ 250,000
The United States Sanitary Commission, precursor to today's Red Cross, was a voluntary organization formed in 1861 to provide medical and physical relief to the Union troops during the Civil War. The Commission's archives include photographs, medical rolls, correspondence, memoranda, reports, registers, scrapbooks, posters and diaries. Currently, the collection is not accessible to scholars due to its advanced state of deterioration. Funds will support conservation and proper archival storage for the collection.

The Metropolitan Opera Radio and Television Archives, New York
Award amount: $ 200,000
The Metropolitan Opera Radio and Television Archives is an unprecedented collection of recorded performances documenting live opera presentations since 1931 and featuring the voices of three generations of great vocal artists. Deterioration of the material on which the broadcasts were originally recorded threatens the collection. Funds will be used to remaster the most severely deteriorated broadcasts and to transfer them to stable media.

Babe Ruth Scrapbooks, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown
Award amount: $ 50,000
These ten scrapbooks are an autobiographical record of the heart of George Herman "Babe" Ruth's baseball career, 1921-1935. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, photographs, playbills, posters, telegrams and the inside of a baseball hat, and document both his baseball achievements and his off-season barnstorming tours throughout small-town America. The ephemeral nature of the original materials and the scrapbook pages has led to severe deterioration over time. Funding will support conservation of these documents.

North Carolina

Union Tavern / Thomas Day House, Milton
Award amount: $ 250,000
Thomas Day, a 19th-century free African American cabinetmaker (1801-1861), has gained national recognition for his highly-prized furniture and distinctive architectural woodwork. The 1810 Federal style Union Tavern served as his residence and workshop during the peak years of his career. A 1989 fire severely damaged this National Historic Landmark, destroying the roof, compromising its structural integrity and substantially damaging the interior. Funds will be used to complete the exterior restoration of the building.

Oklahoma

Western Fine Arts Collection, Oklahoma City
Award amount: $ 140,000
This collection includes works by significant 19th-and 20th-century artists, including Charles Russell, Frederic Remington, N. C. Wyeth and members of the Taos Society of Artists. Items from this collection are constantly sought for exhibits at other institutions, subjecting the paintings to considerable stress and wear over time. This grant will enable comprehensive conservation of the collection, ensuring its preservation for the future.

Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Philadelphia
Award amount: $ 500,000
Constructed in 1823, Eastern State Penitentiary was radical in both design - its radial cellblock plan - and in penal theory: rehabilitation through solitary confinement. It became the model for some 250 prisons throughout the world. Closed as a correctional facility in 1971, the Penitentiary narrowly escaped demolition in 1987. Now partially stabilized, the site is open and interpreted to the public. Water infiltration due to failing cellblock roofs continues to threaten masonry, plaster and other materials. Funds will enable restoration of roofs to halt further deterioration of this National Historic Landmark site.

1777-78 Continental Army Winter Encampment Structures, Valley Forge National Historical Park
Award amount: $ 450,000
Four buildings that served as quarters for General Washington's officers during the Continental Army's winter encampment - General the Marquis de Lafayette's Quarters, General William Alexander's (Lord Stirling) Quarters, General William Maxwell's Quarters / Philander Knox Estate Building and General Huntington's Quarters / Maurice Stephens House - and a domestic building that served the Army - the David Potts House - are threatened by failing roofs and drainage systems. Funding will restore the roofs and improve the drainage systems to ensure the protection of these buildings.

Puerto Rico

Fort San Felipe del Morro, San Juan National Historic Site, San Juan
Award amount: $ 750,000
Fort San Felipe del Morro is the largest of the fortifications at San Juan National Historic Site, which contains the oldest and largest extant Spanish fortifications in the New World. The entire park is a World Heritage Site, and the earliest features of the fort date to 1539. The harsh tropical climate, vegetation growth and public visitation have taken a toll - eroded masonry, loss of surface stucco, and corroded gun emplacements. Funds will support the restoration of masonry and stucco.

Rhode Island

Southeast Lighthouse, Block Island
Award amount: $ 300,000
Block Island's 1874 Southeast Lighthouse is an unusual combination of a working first-order lens and a Gothic Revival building. The lighthouse and attached keeper's house were planned as the showpiece of the U. S. Lighthouse Bureau. This National Historic Landmark ceased active service in 1993. Funds will be used to restore the lighthouse and keeper's house for a maritime museum.

South Carolina

Drayton Hall, Charleston
Award amount: $ 250,000
Begun in 1738, Drayton Hall is the oldest unrestored plantation house in America that is open to the public. Its design was inspired by Andrea Palladio's The Four Books of Architecture, and its recessed two-story portico derives directly from Palladio's Villa Pisani. This National Historic Landmark descended through seven generations of one family and remains substantially unaltered and without electrical, plumbing or mechanical systems. Funds will be used to conserve historic finishes and features and to address structural problems.

South Dakota

Corn Palace, Mitchell
Award amount: $ 400,000
The unique and highly popular Corn Palace features murals constructed of 10 colors of corn. Forms of folk art, the murals are changed annually. Constructed in 1921, the Corn Palace is a tribute to the state's rich farm heritage and remains an active center of civic life. Funding will restore the Corn Palace's deteriorating roof and onion domes.

Tennessee

The Hermitage, near Nashville
Award amount: $ 340,000
The National Historic Landmark Hermitage presents two distinct presidential homes to visitors - the mansion of Andrew Jackson's presidential and retirement years and the two cabins comprising the First Hermitage of his early political and military years. Later occupied by slave families, the nearly 200-year-old cabins are in fragile condition due to rot, weathering and insect infestation. Funding will support their restoration.

Utah

Promontory Cave Collection, Utah Museum of Natural History, Salt Lake City
Award amount: $ 50,000
The Promontory Cave collection, recovered in early 1930s by noted anthropologist Julian Steward, includes stone, clay, bone, wood, reed and leather artifacts dating between 1100 and 1600 C.E. Steward's analysis of the artifacts led to his conclusion that they represented a unique culture around the Great Salt Lake. Funds will support conservation and proper museum storage of the collection, dramatically improving its educational and research potential.

West Virginia

B & O Railroad Roundhouse Complex, Martinsburg
Award amount: $ 500,000
The B & O Railroad Roundhouse complex is the finest and most complete example of mid-19th-century railroad shop complexes in the United States. It was the site of a labor action that led to the widespread 1877 railroad workers' strike. Vacant and unsecured for over a decade, the buildings suffer from water infiltration, vandalism and general neglect. This grant will secure the buildings and restore their exteriors.

Wisconsin

Ten Chimneys, Genesee Depot
Award amount: $ 250,000
From the 1920s through the 1960s, Ten Chimneys was home to Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne, one of the nation's premier acting teams and husband and wife off stage. Nearly all the hand-painted finishes, furnishings, collections and personal memorabilia are original to the home. Deferred maintenance and water infiltration have led to deterioration of many interior features and objects. Funding will support appropriate preservation treatments for the exterior, which will avert further damage to the significant furnishings and collections.

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The White House Millennium Council was established in 1997 by President and Mrs. Clinton to encourage communities around the country to mark the milestone of the new millennium in meaningful ways that "Honor the Past and Imagine the Future." For more information, visit the Millennium Council's Web site www.whitehouse.gov/Initiatives/Millennium.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a federal grantmaking agency created by Congress in 1965 to support the visual, literary, design and performing arts. It serves the public good by nurturing human creativity, supporting community spirit, and fostering an appreciation of the excellence and diversity of our nation's artistic accomplishments.

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities. NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, museum exhibitions, and programs in libraries and other community places.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent federal grantmaking agency, improves museum, library and information services nationwide by fostering leadership, innovation and a lifetime of learning.