Program
Overview
The Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) is supported
through a cooperative agreement between the Institute
of Museum and Library Services and Heritage Preservation.
The program provides eligible museums with an overall
general conservation assessment. Assessments are funded
on a first-come, first-served basis. Application materials
can be obtained by contacting Heritage Preservation
or by visiting its Web site (www.heritagepreservation.org).
The program supports a two-day site visit
by a conservation professional to perform the assessment
and up to three days to write the report. For museums
located in historic structures, the grant supports a
two-day site visit by a preservation architect or an
architectural conservator, and up to three days to write
the report. As the preservation needs of a historic
structure and the collections it contains often differ,
this collaboration is vital to the assessment’s
success.
CAP also helps institutions with living
animal collections, such as zoos and aquariums, that
do not have an assessment of the animals’ physical
conditions and habitats. Institutions with fully surveyed
living animal collections (such as those accredited
by the American Zoological Association) may use the
grant to assess the conservation needs of their nonliving
collections only. Botanic gardens and arboretums may
use the grant to assess the conservation needs of both
their living and nonliving collections.
The general conservation assessment (unlike
a detailed collection survey) provides an overview of
all of the museum’s collections as well as its
environmental conditions and policies and procedures
relating to collections care. The assessment report
assists the institution by (1) providing recommendations
and priorities for conservation actions, both immediate
and long-term; (2) facilitating the development of long-range
institutional plans for the care and preservation of
the collections; and (3) serving as a fundraising tool
for future conservation projects. This assessment may
provide the basis for future support through the Conservation
Project Support program.
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