Guidelines Announced for Bank of America/IMLS American Heritage Preservation Program

From the PLA blog: July 10th, 2008 by Kathleen Hughes

The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation are pleased to announce the 2009 guidelines for the American Heritage Preservation Program.

This new public-private partnership will fund the preservation of endangered and fragile art works, rare books, scientific specimens, and historical documents (photographs, maps, deeds, etc.) held in small and medium-sized museums, archives, and libraries. To access application guidelines instructions, please visit www.imls.gov/collections/grants/boa.htm.

“It is through the preservation and care of our collective heritage that America’s communities stay vital,” said Anne-Imelda M. Radice, Director of IMLS “These grants are intended to assist institutions, as our nation’s stewards of cultural collections, with activities that ensure the safekeeping and care of these precious artifacts and with sharing the impact of these activities with their communities.”

The grants of up to $3,000 are aimed at completing stand-alone conservation projects that convey the essential character and experience of the United States. Examples of fundable projects are provided in the grant guidelines.

The partnership builds on IMLS’s Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action, a multi-year, multi-pronged initiative to raise public awareness and inspire action on the care of America’s collections. That initiative implements recommendations of an IMLS-supported study, A Public Trust atRisk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections, which found that nearly 190 million objects in U.S. collections are in immediate danger of deterioration and need restoration or conservation.

For questions about museum projects, please contact Christine Henry, Senior Program Officer, at 202-653-4674 to discuss your questions. For questions about library or archival projects, please contact Susan Malbin, Senior Program Officer, at 202-653-4768.

The deadline for application is September 15, 2008. IMLS and Bank of America will notify applicants of final decisions in January 2009, with projects to begin no earlier than February 1, 2009.

To learn more please visit www.imls.gov.