The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) can help you apply for a preservation grant available from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation for your institution’s paper-based collections.
American Heritage Preservation Grants will be awarded in amounts up to $3,000 to assist in the preservation of endangered and fragile American art works, rare books, scientific specimens, and historical documents (photographs, maps, deeds, etc.). Objects should be of significance within the heritage of the community. Targeted to meet the needs of small to medium size organizations, these grants are available to fully fund projects in three areas: treatment of library, museum or archival collections; improvement of collections storage; and environmental improvement of collections.
Within the $3,000 grant limit, CCAHA can provide:
- Conservation treatment to stabilize one or more paper-based or
photographic item in your collection. - Rebinding and repair of one or more historically significant books.
- Rematting and reframing of paper-based or photographic items.
- Mounting or remounting paper-based or photographic objects for
display. - Training of staff for rehousing projects.
- Assistance in purchasing appropriate environmental monitoring equipment.
Applications must be submitted by September 15, 2009. The official
IMLS guidelines can be found at: http://www.imls.gov/collections/grants/boa.htm
Because the applications must be submitted through www.grants.gov, any interested organization that has not registered with www.grants.gov should allow at least two weeks to complete the multi-step registration process. For specific questions regarding eligibility and the IMLS application process, contact Christine Henry, Senior Program Officer, IMLS, at 202-653-4674 or chenry@imls.gov for museums, and Kevin Cherry, Senior Program Officer, IMLS, at 202-653-4662 or kcherry@imls.gov for libraries and archives.
Whenever possible, CCAHA offers free grant application support for your paper-based collections preservation, including project planning and grant review, as well as letters of support/commitment. Contact Lee Price, Director of Development, CCAHA, 215-545-0613 or
lprice@ccaha.org for guidance.
CCAHA specializes in the conservation treatment of photographic materials and works of art and artifacts on paper, such as drawings, prints, maps, posters, historic wallpaper, rare books, scrapbooks and manuscripts, as well as related materials such as parchment and papyrus.