$24 Million in Grants Awarded to "Save America's Treasures"

Washington, DC—The National Park Service, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, announced $24.25 in Save America’s Treasures grants to fund 80 preservation and conservation projects in 32 states.

These grants and the matching funds support the preservation of nationally significant historic properties and collections across America. IMLS will administer 41 of the awards, totaling $8,309,796. Examples of awarded grant projects include:

• The Louis Armstrong House Museum will preserve a collection of collages that Louis Armstrong created out of photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and other ephemera on-hand in his Queens, New York home. The collages are among the most frequently requested items by scholars, researchers, and organizations interested in producing exhibitions about Armstrong’s life.

• The Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia will use funds to conserve, digitize, and increase access to its History of Vaccines collection. The collection contains materials related to the history of vaccination between 1702 and 1920, including medical pamphlets and promotional materials, governmental decrees and letters from physicians to elected officials, physician letters and notes, and scrapbooks documenting the history of both vaccination and anti-vaccination campaigns and efforts.

• The Shelburne Museum will assess and research a collection of Native American objects recently acquired by the museum. The collection of approximately 200 items dating from the late 18th to the mid-20th centuries includes pottery, garments, footwear, dolls, and other materials. Conservation and collections staff will engage with Native American Tribes represented in the collection to catalog and assess the items. Additionally, staff will organize six collaborative discussions with Native American partners to be recorded and stored in the museum’s collections database.

The Federal Save America’s Treasures program was established in 1998, and is carried out in partnership with IMLS, NEA, and NEH. Since 1999, Save America’s Treasures has provided over $355 million to more than 1,300 projects to provide preservation and conservation work on nationally significant collections, artifacts, structures and sites. Requiring a dollar-for-dollar private match, these grants have leveraged more than $500 million in private investment and contributed more than 16,000 jobs to local and state economies. These awards of $24.25 million will leverage more than $69 million in private and public investment.

For more information on IMLS’s Save America’s Treasures projects, visit the IMLS website and search awarded grants. For a list of all previously funded Save America’s Treasures projects, please view the Impact of the Save America's Treasures Grant Program Map.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.