Conservation Project Support Grant Announcement
May 2010
Alaska | Arizona | California | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Maine | Maryland
Michigan | Missouri | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | Pennsylvania
Rhode Island | Tennessee | Utah |
Washington | Wisconsin
Alaska
Anchorage Museum - Anchorage, AK
Award Amount: $61,360; Matching: $64,604
Grant Category: Survey of collections Contact: Ms. Monica Shah
Conservator
mshah@anchoragemuseum.org Project Title: "Detailed Conservation Survey of the Museum's Premier Alaska Gallery Collections"
The Anchorage Museum will use grant funds to conduct a detailed conservation survey of the ethnographic and historic objects on exhibit in its Alaska Gallery to assess the overall physical condition of this collection, identify treatment needs for each object, prioritize needs and estimate treatment costs, and evaluate the long-term effects of display on the condition of objects. The museum will bring professionals from smaller institutions around the state for training about conservation surveys and the importance of high-quality exhibition materials. Visitors to the museum will be able to observe the survey work in progress through an observation window around the work area.
Arizona
Arizona State Museum - Tucson, AZ
Award Amount: $147,043; Matching: $155,460
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Nancy Odegaard
Conservator Professor
odegaard@email.arizona.edu Project Title: "Conservation of Southwest Ceramic Vessels"
The Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona in Tucson will treat 700 archaeological and ethnological ceramic vessels from its Southwest collections. Conservation steps for each vessel will include testing, analysis, and removal of old adhesives, residues, deposits, and paints; cleaning; consolidation; stabilization; and documentation. The project will include training for a graduate research assistant; the regular inclusion of students; and the development of publications, lectures, Web information, and workshops for professionals as well as the public to share the conservation process. Visitors will be able to view the ongoing conservation activities through an interpretive gallery window.
California
Gamble House - Los Angeles, CA
Award Amount: $126,821; Matching: $152,935
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Anne Mallek
Curator
mallek@usc.edu Project Title: "Gamble House Collections Conservation Treatment Project"
The Gamble House, part of the University of Southern California, will use grant funds to treat 305 objects in its collections (most designed by architects Charles and Henry Greene specifically for the house) and 30 select architectural features. Objects include a mixture of glass, metalware, and textiles that are integral to the design and story of the house. The architecture and decorative arts designed by Charles Greene and his brother Henry a century ago in California are recognized internationally as among the finest of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. The Gamble House, constructed between 1907 and 1909, is the Greenes’ best known commission and the only one to survive intact with complete furnishings and fixtures designed by the architects. Details of the conservation treatment will be shared with the community through e-mail, newsletters, and the museum’s Web site. Pacific Asia Museum - Pasadena, CA
Award Amount: $48,144; Matching: $48,147
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Bridget Bray
Collections Manager
b.bray@pacificasiamuseum.org Project Title: "Earthquake-Secure Collections Storage Environment"
Pacific Asia Museum will use grant funds to safeguard its noted collection of Asian ceramics from the effects of seismic activity. The project will safely house approximately 300 works, the balance of the museum’s ceramics collection that remains at risk in its storage facility. In this earthquake-prone region, this is considered by conservation specialists to be the collection’s most urgent conservation need. The museum will install an additional compact storage unit designed to protect works from the kind of motion associated with seismic events. With this substantial layer of protection, these fragile works' useful lives will be extended, providing the public with greater access to them.
Museum of Ventura County - Ventura, CA
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching: $264,658
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Jennifer Maxon
Associate Librarian and Archivist
jmaxon@venturamuseum.org Project Title: "Research Library Collection Storage Project"
The Museum of Ventura County will purchase and install compact shelving to rehouse its research library’s historical collection of books and manuscripts, images, maps, architectural plans and drawings, government documents, and other rare materials from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and beyond. The project goal is to relieve overcrowding and improve long-term care of this comprehensive and still-growing collection. Activities will include hiring a conservator to aid with training staff in surface cleaning of collections, surveying of materials for preservation or conservation needs, and a relocation plan for safely moving the collections into new facilities. Once materials are rehoused, the public will have access to materials that have previously been unavailable for use.
Connecticut
Antiquarian and Landmarks Society - Hartford, CT
Award Amount: $53,090; Matching: $63,783
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Beverly Lucas
Curator
beverly.lucas@ctlandmarks.org Project Title: "Connecticut Landmarks Archival and Photographic Collections Re-housing"
The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society will rehouse significant historic archival and photographic collections. The society preserves and interprets four centuries of domestic architecture and family life through its nine historic house museums. More than 400 linear feet of archival materials, including letters, diaries, business papers, photographs, and glass plate negatives, will be rehoused in archival storage materials and moved to a newly constructed, environmentally stable facility. Grant funds will also be used to purchase and install archival-quality shelving in the new facility. Consolidation of the collections in a more central location will provide greater access to these collections for staff, educators, students, members, the public, and outside researchers.
Delaware
Hagley Museum and Library - Wilmington, DE
Award Amount: $22,281; Matching: $96,773
Grant Category: Survey of collections Contact: Ms. Debra Hughes
Curator of Collections and Exhibits
dhughes@hagley.org Project Title: "Detailed conservation survey of pioneering synthetic DuPont textile fiber "firsts""
Hagley Museum and Library will use its grant to hire two textile conservators to conduct a detailed conservation survey of approximately 600 items of clothing and fabric samples made from pioneering synthetic DuPont fibers such as nylon, Orlon™, acrylic, Dacron™ polyester, and Qiana™. The survey will also include more than 400 items that relate to the development of nylon in the 1930s, including research, and wear-tested and commercially sold clothing. Resulting reports will permit the museum to establish treatment priorities, long-term storage requirements, and procedures for preserving the items while on loan or on exhibit. Owing to the unique nature of these collections, Hagley will widely disseminate the findings to textile conservation students and the public through a PowerPoint presentation and through a brochure that will be available on Hagley’s Web site.
Florida
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens - Miami, FL
Award Amount: $84,925; Matching: $84,971
Grant Category: Survey of collections Contact: Ms. Flaminia Gennari-Santori
Deputy Director, Collections & Curatorial Affairs
flaminia.gennari@vizcayamuseum.org Project Title: "Detailed Conservation Survey at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens"
The Vizcaya Museum and Gardens will use grant funds to conduct a detailed conservation survey of 280 objects and architectural elements in Vizcaya’s main house and casino. The objects to be assessed include integral works of art—floors, ceilings, wall paintings, light fixtures, doors and gates, mounted sculptures, and mantelpieces that are integrated into the interior architecture of the main house; a significant and diverse collection of tapestries, rugs, and silk wall coverings; and one of the most important collections of Italian furniture in the United States. The resulting report will summarize the general findings, provide recommendations for future action, and develop a work plan and time line for the restoration of the integral works of art.
Georgia
Savannah College of Art and Design Museum - Savannah, GA
Award Amount: $149,300; Matching: $161,438
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Dr. Suzanne Burke
Executive Museum Director
smburke@scad.edu Project Title: "SCAD Museum of Art Paintings Collection Storage Improvement"
The Savannah College of Art and Design Museum will use grant funds to purchase and rehouse its 350-item painting collection in a rehabilitated 1853 historic annex connected to the museum. (Both structures are original components of the National Historic Landmark Central of the Georgia Railroad complex, the only surviving antebellum railroad complex in the country.) The collections include sixteenth to twentieth century British and American portrait paintings by Van Dyck, Lely, Gainsborough, Reynolds, and Hogarth, as well as African American art from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including paintings by Duncanson, Bannister, Aaron Douglas, Jacob Lawrence (Genesis Creation Series), and Romare Bearden. The new storage facility will make the collection more available to the public and the campus community. Online communications, press releases, and articles will also measure success in reaching the campus and wider communities.
Maine
Victoria Mansion - Portland, ME
Award Amount: $53,646; Matching: $53,646
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Mr. Robert Wolterstorff
Director
rwolterstorff@victoriamansion.org Project Title: "Victoria Mansion Bathroom and Water Closet Conservation Project"
Victoria Mansion will use grant funds to conserve the original ca. 1860 painted finishes in its bathroom and water closet, which, with the adjacent dressing room, constitute a coordinated suite of rooms intricately decorated in the Pompeian style. Victoria Mansion is a pre–Civil War house, distinguished for both its Italian villa style and its ornate interiors, which were designed by Gustave Herter and embellished by the firm of Giuseppe Guidicini, one of the leading decorative painters of the period. The painted finishes in these rooms, executed in both oil and distemper, are flaking badly and in imminent peril. Treatment will include stabilization, removal of heavy and disfiguring accumulations of grime and soot from the paint surfaces, and inpainting to restore lost designs and colors, returning the rooms to their intended brilliance.
Maryland
Walters Art Museum - Baltimore, MD
Award Amount: $123,200; Matching: $213,049
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Mrs. Julie Lauffenburger
Senior Objects Conservator
jlauffenburger@thewalters.org Project Title: "Retrofitting Casework at the Walters Art Museum"
The Walters Art Museum will use grant funds to conserve and preserve 190 works of art from the museum’s Ancient, Medieval, Islamic, and early Renaissance collections. This two-year project includes retrofitting 40 cases by applying a vapor barrier to reduce the volatile organic compounds emitted; incorporating new design to increase the air flow within the case; retesting all old and new paints, adhesives, and fabrics included in the casework; and introducing additional sorbents in each case. Results from this project will be shared with the conservation field through a paper or conference presentation. Conservators will use the new conservation window to disseminate information regarding the dangers of indoor pollutants to the objects and the efforts taken at the Walters to minimize the problem. Historic St. Mary’s City - Saint Mary's City, MD
Award Amount: $141,028; Matching: $165,560
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Mr. Silas Hurry
Curator of Collections & Archeological Lab Dir.
sdhurry@smcm.edu Project Title: "Conservation of Selected Archaeological Artifacts from the Town Center Site, Historic St. Mary's City"
Historic St. Mary’s City will use grant funds to treat archaeological artifacts from the core of the original seventeenth century capital. The objects range from tools and architectural elements to items of personal adornment and clothing (buttons, clothing hooks, etc.) made of iron, copper alloy, glass, and organic materials that provide significant information about life in the early colony. The project focuses on items recovered from two significant structures: the 1635 home of Leonard Calvert, the first governor of the colony, which subsequently served as the first statehouse of the colony and as the largest public inn in the colony; and the only known English Civil War fort built in North America, Popes Fort, which was occupied in the 1640s. The conservator will work with conservation interns, providing training to the next generation of professionals.
Michigan
Kingman Museum - Battle Creek, MI
Award Amount: $78,918; Matching: $161,934
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. M. Nelson
Collections Manager
knelson@kingmanmuseum.org Project Title: "Rehousing Project"
The Kingman Museum will use grant funds to purchase powder-coated metal shelving and cabinets to rehouse the natural history and ethnographic collections. The ethnographic collection includes ornaments, vessels, weaponry, tools, clothing, and textiles representing a range of Native American cultures. The natural history collection includes include a broad representation of mounted birds, reptiles, and mammals from around the world and the state of Michigan. Project activities will also include training for staff and volunteers in moving and rehousing the collections. When this project is completed, space will be better utilized, more efficient storage methods implemented, and the condition of the approximately 7,000 items stabilized. Cranbrook Art Museum - Bloomfield Hills, MI
Award Amount: $133,431; Matching: $133,555
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Mr. Gregory Wittkopp
Director, Cranbrook Art Museum
gwittkopp@cranbrook.edu Project Title: "Cranbrook Art Museum Ceramics, Glass and Textiles Shelving, Move and Accessibility Project"
The Cranbrook Art Museum will use grant funds to improve the storage conditions of the textile, ceramics, and glass collections. For the textiles collection, the objective is to install museum-quality storage equipment and shelving, including oversized textile racks, textile storage cabinets, tables and cabinets with storage for unrolled material, and shelf storage for boxes and three-dimensional objects. For the ceramics and glass collections, the objective is to install museum-quality shelving in an open-shelving space to manage oversized ceramics, and bin storage for windows and framed glass collection materials. The improved storage conditions will not only ensure long-term care of the collections but will allow greater access to the collections for both visitors and staff.
Detroit Institute of Arts - Detroit, MI
Award Amount: $90,000; Matching: $93,810
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Barbara Heller
Chief Conservator
bheller@dia.org Project Title: "To upgrade American Decorative Arts and Sculpture Storage"
The Detroit Institute of Arts will use grant funds to upgrade collections storage for its American art collections. The museum will purchase and install new nonreactive storage cabinets for objects, racking and storage platform for sculptures, a work table, and wall screens to provide vertical hanging space for metalwork and mirrors. The project also includes moving, unpacking, and reorganizing 2,344 American decorative arts, small sculptures, and three large Daniel Chester French plasters from three separate temporary storage rooms into newly renovated and reconfigured space. The project will also allow the museum to implement preventive conservation measures for security and long-term stability of these objects, so the collection will be readily accessible to curators, conservators, and scholars for study and research, treatment, photography, and gallery rotation or loan. Michigan State University Museum - East Lansing, MI
Award Amount: $149,316; Matching: $150,613
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Lynne Swanson
Collections Manager for Cultural Collections
swansonl@msu.edu Project Title: "Michigan State University Museum New Collections Rehousing Project"
The Michigan State University Museum will use grant funds to purchase and install high-density storage furniture and supplies for five newly acquired collections. These collections include the Alice Griswold weaving history collection, the Cuesta Benberry collection of African American quilts, a collection of ralli quilts from India, Mexican masks, and a collection of letters of Rosa Parks. Staff and student interns will move and rehouse these collections over a two-year period. The improved storage conditions will allow better long-term care of the collections and improved access to the collections by staff and researchers, as well as increased access for the public through exhibitions.
Missouri
Missouri Historical Society - Saint Louis, MO
Award Amount: $96,681; Matching: $201,315
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Margaret Koch
Director of Exhibitions and Research
mkg@mohistory.org Project Title: "Missouri and the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War: A Conservation Project of the Missouri History Museum"
The Missouri Historical Museum will use grant funds to conserve a group of artifacts relating to the Civil War. Artifacts include fragile, oversized flags; bound volumes; and paper-based archival materials. Included among the items is the diary of Adam Burns Smith. Smith enlisted with Company B of the 33rd Missouri Infantry Volunteers (Union) in Jefferson City on August 14, 1862. The next year, Smith found himself in the midst of Gen. U.S. Grant’s massive campaign against Vicksburg. This diary provides a unique look at the war from the perspective of an individual soldier. Treatments will include cleaning, stabilization, and digital documentation, which will allow greater access to the objects through online exhibits.
New Jersey
Newark Museum Association - Newark, NJ
Award Amount: $148,586; Matching: $230,269
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Rebecca Buck
Deputy Director of Collection Services
rbuck@newarkmuseum.org Project Title: "African Art Collection Rehousing Project"
The Newark Museum will rehouse approximately 2,000 African art objects that are most at risk into conservationally sound and customized cabinetry. The collection is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the United States, ranking among the nation’s oldest, and distinguished in its range of art works represented and their geographic origins. The new collections storage cabinets will reduce the risk of potential infestation and exposure to light for these sensitive materials. Once rehoused, the collection will be more accessible for study and review by scholars and staff. The new collections storage will also assist in a major reinstallation of the permanent African art galleries and will be used to educate the public about the importance of conservation activities.
New Mexico
Palace of the Governors - Santa Fe, NM
Award Amount: $15,000; Matching: $17,846
Grant Category: Survey of collections Contact: Mr. Mark MacKenzie
Director of Conservation/Chief Conservator
mark.mackenzie@state.nm.us Project Title: "Detailed condition survey of The Palace of the Governors/ New Mexico History Museum's paintings collection"
The Palace of the Governors/New Mexico History Museum will use grant funds to perform a detailed condition survey of the museum’s paintings collection. The collection, which comprises 187 paintings, represents a significant artistic and historical body of work for the state of New Mexico. This diverse collection includes rare portraits of historical figures such as Charles Bent, the first governor of New Mexico, and Adolph Bandelier, the namesake of Bandelier National Monument. Other important works include religious paintings by prominent Spanish colonial artists such as Juan Correa and Diego Quispe Tito. The survey will be used to identify the major condition issues in the paintings collection. This information will ultimately be used to develop plans for the treatment and long-term storage of the collection. Museum of Indian Arts and Culture - Santa Fe, NM
Award Amount: $57,370; Matching: $64,550
Grant Category: Survey of collections Contact: Ms. Julia Clifton
Curator, Archeological Research Collections
julia.clifton@state.nm.us Project Title: "Conservation Survey of Archaeological Ceramics"
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture will use grant funds to conduct a detailed conservation survey of 5,300 whole and reconstructed archaeological ceramic vessels. This collection provides a comprehensive view of ceramics made or used in New Mexico before AD 1800, spanning almost 1,400 years of Southwestern precontact and early Native American and Spanish colonial cultures, constituting a primary resource for archaeological research in the American Southwest. The information gathered with the survey will allow staff to determine the required scope of treatment and appropriate packing to safely move the collections to a new facility under construction that will house all of the state archaeological collections.
New York
Genesee Country Museum - Mumford, NY
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching: $343,119
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Patricia Tice
Curator of the John L. Wehle Art Gallery
ptice@gcv.org Project Title: "Collections Storage Project"
The Genesee Country Museum will use grant funds to purchase and install a high-density mobile storage system designed for the efficient housing of its collections within a newly created, environmentally controlled, secure, centralized storage room. The storage system will enable staff to move collections from perilous conditions in spaces with nonexistent or limited environmental controls throughout the museum campus. This will significantly advance preservation efforts while improving physical and intellectual access. A consulting conservator will conduct collection care workshops to refresh and upgrade collection care procedures used by collections and project staff. American Museum of Natural History - New York, NY
Award Amount: $135,060; Matching: $135,084
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Judith Levinson
Director of Conservation
levinson@amnh.org Project Title: "Conservation Treatment of Totem Poles in the American Museum of Natural History's Hall of Northwest Coast Indians,"
The American Museum of Natural History will use grant funds to conserve an irreplaceable collection of totem poles and other large-scale carvings contained in its Hall of Northwest Coast Indians, which includes displays from the major peoples of the Northwest Coast, including the Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), Coast Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), Nuxalk (Bella Coola), Kwakwaka’wakw, Tsimshianic Peoples (Tsimshian), Tlingit, and Haida. The museum will conserve 16 carvings that can be accommodated in the Anthropology Division’s objects conservation laboratory. These treatments will address both the structural instability and surface appearance of the objects, with the first emphasis being the stabilization of the artifacts so they can be safely maintained.
Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York, NY
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching: $155,919
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Marjorie Shelley
Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge
marjorie.shelley@metmuseum.org Project Title: "Conservation of Window Designs from the Studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany"
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will use grant funds to conserve and stabilize a group of 60 window design drawings from the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Stained-glass windows are widely considered one of the most important areas of Tiffany's work, and their designs are a critical link to the finished product and to understanding the work process of the studio. Currently, the drawings are completely inaccessible due to microbial infestation and their fragile condition, making even the handling of the drawings nearly impossible. Conservation of this collection will allow the museum to make the drawings available to researchers and through exhibits to the public for the first time. George Eastman House - Rochester, NY
Award Amount: $150,000; Matching: $262,810
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Rachel Stuhlman
Librarian/Curator, Rare Books
rachel@geh.org Project Title: "Compact Shelving for the Twentieth Century and Contemporary Vault of George Eastman House's Menschel Library"
The George Eastman House will use grant funds to purchase and install compact shelving designed to protect, improve, and expand collections storage in the contemporary vault in the museum’s library. The library, renowned for its comprehensive holdings of the literature of photography, cinema, and imaging, is open to the public free of charge and serves an international community of scholars. It is also an essential resource for Eastman House’s curatorial, conservation, and education staff. The project will ensure preventative collection stewardship and expand storage space in the contemporary vault. A subsidiary goal is to create an airlock, which will better maintain climate stability and save energy.
North Carolina
Cape Fear Museum of History and Science - Wilmington, NC
Award Amount: $27,280; Matching: $27,317
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Barbara Rowe
Curator
browe@nhcgov.com Project Title: "Conserving Civil War Artifacts"
The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science will use grant funds to treat three artifacts from its Civil War collections: an 1861 United States flag displayed at the Wilmington meeting discussing secession; an 1864 Confederate 2nd National “Stainless” banner stitched by the women of Wilmington and flown over Fort Fisher; and the dress uniform of Major General Whiting, Confederate commander of the Cape Fear military district. Treatment will include documentation, vacuuming, removal of existing backing, humidification and shaping, minimal localized spot cleaning, and stabilizing tears. Descriptions of this project will be included in the museum’s newsletter, integrated into exhibits, and aired on New Hanover County cable television. Because the museum presents both history and science, a natural double message has been to share an artifact’s story and treatment methodologies.
Pennsylvania
Barnes Foundation - Merion, PA
Award Amount: $75,000; Matching: $129,032
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Barbara Buckley
Chief Conservator
bbuckley@barnesfoundation.org Project Title: "Conservation Treatment for Fifteen (15) Frames"
The Barnes Foundation will use grant funds to treat 15 frames that have been identified as in critical need of conservation. The frames house major works by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Rousseau. The frames are integral to the artwork they support, representing historic frame styles chosen specifically for the collection by Dr. Barnes. These frames will be treated for failing joints, unstable gesso, and flaking gilding. Once treated, the frames will be reunited with the original works of art and exhibited as part of the installation in the new museum galleries.
La Salle University Art Museum - Philadelphia, PA
Award Amount: $8,401; Matching: $8,401
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Ms. Carmen Vendelin
Assistant Curator of Art
vendelin@lasalle.edu Project Title: "La Salle University Art Museum Joos de Momper Painting Conservation Treatment"
The La Salle University Art Museum will treat Landscape with Pilgrims at a Grotto, a 1620 painting by Joos de Momper. The oil-on-canvas work will be given an overall consolidation treatment to arrest the steady deterioration and paint loss. A paintings conservator will consolidate the areas of flaking paint and inpaint lost areas; reline the painting; remove old repaints, grime, and deteriorating varnish; and apply fresh varnish. This painting is the focal point of the Renaissance Room at the museum, and treatment will allow the museum to continue to interpret this important work of art. Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Pittsburgh, PA
Award Amount: $68,476; Matching: $70,634
Grant Category: Survey of collections Contact: Ms. Gretchen Anderson
Conservator
andersong@carnegiemnh.org Project Title: "Carnegie Museum of Natural History Conservation Project Support Re-survey"
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History will use grant funds to conduct a general conservation survey of the museum’s building and collections. The survey will assess current conditions of the collections, the museum environments, and policies and procedures. The museum will use this survey to develop a renewed long-range conservation plan with short-term, mid-term, and long-term priorities for collections care as well as workable strategies on how to accomplish those priorities. When completed, the long-range plan will be posted on the Internet, to be used as a model for other facilities with similar issues. The consultants’ presentation of findings will be recorded and available as a training video for museum staff.
Rhode Island
Preservation Society of Newport County - Newport, RI
Award Amount: $111,982; Matching: $130,886
Grant Category: Treatment of collections Contact: Mr. Charles Moore
Chief Conservator
cjmoore@newportmansions.org Project Title: "Conservation Treatment of Chinese Lacquer Panels"
The Preservation Society of Newport County will use funds to conserve two early eighteenth century Chinese lacquer panels installed in the breakfast room of The Elms. Constructed in 1901, the building is a stone replica of the 1750 Château d’Asničres, located outside of Paris, and was designed as a summer retreat for Edward Berwind, a coal and shipping entrepreneur. Treatment of the panels will include cleaning, reattaching lacquer to the substrate, restoring losses, and varnishing for protection. As part of the educational experience at the museum, visitors will be able to watch the ongoing treatment process as conservators work in an onsite lab.
Tennessee
Tennessee Aquarium - Chattanooga, TN
Award Amount: $75,750; Matching: $111,576
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Mr. Jackson Andrews
Director of Husbandry and Operations
jca@tnaqua.org Project Title: "Tennessee Aquarium: River Journey Life Support System Upgrade"
The Tennessee Aquarium will use grant funds to complete a multiyear plan to refresh all aspects of its “River Journey” building, which highlights freshwater animals and ecosystems. The 480,000-gallon facility houses 4,700 living specimens representing 537 species of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. Project activities will include upgrades to the life support system that will allow monitoring in real time, maintaining consistent ozone levels, and eliminating the possibility of pathogens in the filtration system. These upgrades will guarantee the best possible living environment for these animals by significantly upgrading collections infrastructure while reducing the building’s overall carbon footprint. The project will be shared with the public through the exhibition, where the conservation messages presented have never been more critical.
Utah
Utah Museum of Natural History, University of Utah - Salt Lake City, UT
Award Amount: $146,552; Matching: $146,552
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Ms. Kara Hurst
khurst@umnh.utah.edu Project Title: "Invertebrates Environmental Stabilization Project"
The Utah Museum of Natural History will improve environmental conditions of the nonfossil invertebrates collections. Temperature and relative humidity fluctuate substantially in the original purpose-built library of the University of Utah, the 1933 George Thomas Building. Construction of a new facility is on schedule, and the collections move will start once heating, ventilation, and air conditioning commissioning is completed. Specimens will be verified, packed, documented, and transported to the new museum facility and placed in new cabinetry to help create a stable environment. The project will eliminate acidic off-gassing of wooden cabinets (and halt Byne’s disease in the malacology collection); improve human safety by eliminating use of DDT-coated cabinets; reduce pest infestation concerns and generate a stable microclimate with new, sealed cabinetry; and secure the collections in museum-quality locking metal cabinets.
Washington
Seattle Art Museum - Seattle, WA
Award Amount: $70,000; Matching: $74,951
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Mr. Nicholas Dorman
Chief Conservator
nicholasd@seattleartmuseum.org Project Title: "Rehousing SAM's Asian Screen Collection"
The Seattle Art Museum will improve collection care and access for its collection of Asian folding and sliding screens stored at its historic 1933 Seattle Asian Art Museum facility. These paintings are currently stored in a variety of makeshift storage units that impede proper access and jeopardize long-term preservation of the collection. Sixty-nine screens will be rehoused into 16 new, professional-quality screen storage cabinets with sliding trays; sealed, secure doors; and suitable interior dimensions. The project will facilitate safe object handling and storage, thereby enhancing long-term preservation and safe access for scholars.
Wisconsin
Chippewa Valley Museum - Eau Claire, WI
Award Amount: $86,336; Matching: $86,556
Grant Category: Provision of optimum environment Contact: Carrie Ronnander
Curator
c.ronnander@cvmuseum.com Project Title: "Chippewa Valley Museum Collections Storage Improvements"
The Chippewa Valley Museum will use grant funds to purchase and install high-density, compact storage cabinets and shelving for larger artifacts and oversized photographs and documents. The rehousing project will allow the museum better access to these objects for exhibit and research and will improve long-term care of the museum’s regional collection of 19,513 artifacts, 25,760 photographs, and documents that place regional stories in the context of national events. To share the results of the project, the museum will feature artifacts benefitting from the project in presentations and small, object-specific exhibits; highlight the project on its Web site, and share information with nearby historical organizations.
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