News Release

National Park Service and partner agencies announce $25.7 million in Save America’s Treasures grants

Thousands of significant African American quilts will receive conservation and protective storage through a Save America's Treasures grant to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, in California.

Jonathan Holstein

News Release Date: September 12, 2023

Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service (NPS), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), today announced $25.7 million in Save America’s Treasures grants from the Historic Preservation Fund. The funding announced today will support 58 projects in 26 states, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia that will preserve nationally significant sites and collections.

“These grants preserve and conserve nationally significant properties and collections to tell a more complete story of America and its people,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “Preserving these historic places and collections ensures the generations of today and tomorrow can enjoy and learn from the diverse stories across time and place in America’s history.”

Save America’s Treasures requires applicants to match the grant money dollar-for-dollar with nonfederal funding. This award of $25,750,000 million will leverage almost $60 million in private and public investment. Buildings and collections that have previously received Save America’s Treasures grants are not eligible to receive a second grant for the same project.

Examples of the awarded grants include: 

• The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive will undertake a conservation project for approximately 1,800 quilts, pieced fragments and textile object in its African American quilts collection, made by more than 500 individual quilters and nine intergenerational families. Conservation work will include treatments to remove microbial, mold and insect infestations, careful cleaning and rehousing of objects. The grantee is matching with $460,000.

• The Door County Maritime Museum in Wisconsin will restore the historic tugboat, John Purves, in its collection. Built in 1919, the John Purves served the United States military in the aftermath of World War I and during World War II. For the restoration, the tugboat will be dry-docked and undergo extensive repairs to mitigate damages affecting the integrity of the hull. The grantee is matching with almost $200,000.

• The Chilkoot Indian Association in Alaska will stabilize and rehabilitate the Noow Hit Tribal House, the last remaining Tlingit traditional structure constructed in the Chilkat Valley, using traditional Northern Tlingit post and beam building techniques. The grantee is matching with $755,272.

Established in 1977 and authorized at $150 million per year through 2023, the Historic Preservation Fund has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments and non-profit organizations. Administered by the NPS, Congress appropriates from the HPF to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural resources and history. 

Preservation Projects receiving a Save America’s Treasures grant from NPS include:

State	Project	Grantee	Award
Alaska, Haines	Noow Hit Tribal House Stabilization and Rehabilitation at Fort William H. Seward	Chilkoot Indian Association	$    744,507
Arizona, Douglas	Preservation of Historic Douglas Municipal Airport Runway	City of Douglas	$    750,000
California, Pleasant Hill	Preservation of the Poston Elementary School Site I	Poston Community Alliance	$    296,827
California, Sacramento	Rehabilitation of the Zanetta House/Plaza Hall	California Department of Parks and Recreation	$    748,747
California, San Diego	Former Naval Training Center Building 178 Rehabilitation Project	NTC Foundation	$    686,799
California, San Fransisco	Presidio Chapel Rehabilitation	Interfaith Center at the Presidio	$    750,000
California, Santa Barbara	Mission San Juan Bautista Rehabilitation	California Missions Foundation	$    750,000
California, Vallejo	Mare Island Officers' Quarters B Rehabilitation	City of Vallejo	$    750,000
Colorado, Denver	Denver Civic Center Central Promenade Rehabilitation	City and County of Denver; Parks & Recreation Department	$    750,000
Connecticut, Hartford	Historic Wallpaper Rehabilitation at the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden	The Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, Incorporated	$    146,500
Connecticut, Stamford	Rehabilitation of First Presbyterian Church	Highland Green Foundation	$    750,000
Connecticut, Waterford	The Rehabilitation of Monte Cristo Cottage	Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center	$    138,594
District of Columbia, Washington	Lyndhurst Swimming Pool Building Rehabilitation	National Trust for Historic Preservation in the US	$    750,000
District of Columbia, Washington	Preservation of the Gunboat Philadelphia	Smithsonian Institution	$    750,000
Delaware, Winterthur	Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library Historic Gatehouse Preservation Project	Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Inc.	$    125,000
Illinois, Chicago	Rehabilitation of a Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Building	VanderCook College of Music	$    750,000
Illinois, Lake Forest	Restoration of Ragdale's Arts & Crafts Garden	Ragdale Foundation	$    368,343
Kentucky, Frankfort	Preservation of Swigert-Taylor House	City of Frankfort	$    750,000
Kentucky, Lexington	Saving Benjamin Henry Latrobe’s Pope Villa	Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation	$    748,467
Louisiana, Natchitoches	Preservation of Big House and Bindery at Melrose Plantation	Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches	$    200,000
Massachusetts, Marblehead	Preservation of the Brick Kitchen & Slave Quarters of the Jeremiah Lee Estate	Marblehead Museum & Historical Society, Inc.	$    308,363
Maryland, Baltimore	Adaptive Reuse of the Ellicott City Jail	Society for the Preservation of Maryland Antiquities, Inc.	$    743,924
Mississippi, Jackson	Rehabilitation of Raymond Hall	Mississippi Department of Archives and History	$    106,237
New York, Annandale-on-Hudson	Montgomery Place Exterior Building Envelope Rehabilitation	Bard College	$    750,000
New York, Katonah	Caramoor's Window Rehabilitation Project	Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Inc.	$    183,213
New York, Shelter Island	1737 Sylvester Manor House Preservation and Rehabilitation	Sylvester Manor Educational Farm, Inc.	$    750,000
Oklahoma, Oklahoma City	Preservation of Stone Barracks at Fort Gibson	Oklahoma Historical Society	$    750,000
Pennsylvania, Braddock	Braddock Carnegie Library Association Music Hall Rehabilitation	Braddock Carnegie Library Association	$    500,000
Pennsylvania, Johnstown	Johnstown Flood Museum Rehabilitation	Johnstown Area Heritage Association	$    750,000
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia	Moisture Remediation and Rehabilitation at Grumblethorpe and Tenant House	Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks	$    561,692
Virgin Islands, Christiansted	Christiansted Old Barracks Property Project	Virgin Islands Centre for Architecture, Crafts and Build Her	$    750,000
West Virginia, Harpers Ferry	Preservation of Armory Dwelling House #24 from the 2nd US National Armory	People Tree Ministerial Services, Inc.	$    402,440
Wyoming, Casper	Fort Caspar Historical Log Building Rehabilitation	City of Casper	$    723,500
19 states		Total	$18,983,153

Collections Projects receiving a Save America’s Treasures grant from IMLS include:

State	Project	Grantee	Award
California, Berkeley	Conservation of BAMPFA's African American Quilts Collection	The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive	$  461,512
California, Contra Costa	The Arhoolie Foundation's Chris Strachwitz Collection: Processing and Digitization Planning Project	Arhoolie Foundation	$  100,649
Florida, Miami	Haitian Heritage Museum Collection- Roger L. Farnham's Photo Albums' Preservation	Haitian Heritage Museum Corp	$    39,500
Indiana, Muncie	Perseveration of Authentic Single Source Cultural Aviation Models for Collections Stewardship and Access	Academy of Model Aeronautics	$    66,000
Kansas, Independence	Project Archivist to Prepare Archival Assets for Online Dissemination at the William Inge Collection, Independence, Kansas	Independence Community College	$    49,785
Kentucky, Frankfort	Capital City Museum Collections Conservation and Rehousing	Capital City Museum	$    87,520
Kentucky, Whitesburg	Recovery, Restoration and Digitization of Appalshop's Audiovisual Collections	Appalshop	$  750,000
Massachusetts, Boston	Preserving American Orchestral Performance Practices of the late 19th/early 20th century	Boston Symphony Orchestra	$  257,377
Massachusetts, Plymouth	Preserving Mayflower II: A Project to Ensure the Longevity of a National Icon	Plimoth Patuxet Museums	$  163,680
Minnesota, Northfield	Women's Work: Saving Kvinden og Hjemmet and other Norwegian-American Immigrant Serial Publications	St Olaf College	$    52,109
Nebraska, Norfolk	Johnny Carson Collection Preservation Improvements	Elkhorn Valley Historical Society of	$    31,700
New York, New York	Jewish Labor and Political Archives - Preservation and access of unique historical documents and photographs	YIVO Institute for Jewish Research	$  224,007
New York, New York	The Panorama of the City of New York	Queens Museum of Art	$  315,000
North Carolina, Asheville	Southern Appalachian and Western North Carolina Artworks Conservation/Preservation	Asheville Art Museum	$  151,933
Pennsylvania, Homestead	48" Universal Plate Mill Collection	Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation	$  750,000
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia	The Penn Family Papers at HSP	Historical Society of Pennsylvania	$    82,280
Texas, Alpine	Preserving and Providing Access to the Texas Map Research Center	Sul Ross State University (Museum of the Big Bend)	$  200,000
Virginia, Newport News	Mariners Access Initiative: Uncovering Hidden Maritime Cultural Heritage	Mariners Museum	$  392,487
Virginia, Richmond	Addressing Immediate Threats to the Non-Living Collection at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden	Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden	$  170,250
Virginia, Richmond	Increased Conservation of BIPOC Artifacts from Kingsmill	Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Historic Resources	$  176,176
Virginia, Richmond	The Executive Papers of Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson Conservation Project	Library of Virginia Foundation	$  299,217
Washington, Seattle	Henry Art Gallery: Collections Storage and Access Upgrade Project	Henry Gallery Association	$  204,415
Wisconsin, Madison	Preservation & digitization of 26 critical collections documenting those at the forefront of the civil rights struggle in the United States.	State Historical Society	$  750,000
Wisconsin, Sturgeon Bay	Drydocking of the tug John Purves	Door County Maritime Museum & Lighthouse	$  196,250
Wyoming, Cody	Improving and remodeling collections storage spaces at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.	Buffalo Bill Memorial Association	$  750,000
16 states		Total	$6,721,847

For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit nps.gov/stlpg/
 

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