November 2024 Awards in Preservation and Access

We congratulate the 31 institutions that received November 2024 NEH Preservation and Access awards! The division made eight awards to Preservation and Access Education and Training projects, six awards to Research and Development projects, and 17 awards to Cultural and Community Resilience projects.

PRESERVATION AND ACCESS EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, Washington, DC – Award: $349,228

Training in climate resilience planning for collections care professionals and field service providers, as well as functionality improvements to the Climate Resilience Resources for Cultural Heritage web resource and translating it into Spanish.

HBCU Library Alliance, Inc., Atlanta, GA – Award: $350,000

A six-week summer internship program for 24 undergraduate students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in library preservation and cultural heritage conservation practices.

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HBCU Library Alliance summer internships will introduce undergraduates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities to library careers, focusing on preservation, archives, and conservation work, supported by a Preservation and Access Education and Training award.

Midwest Art Conservation Center, Inc., Minneapolis, MN – Award: $350,000

A program to provide preventive conservation education and services for smaller organizations in the upper Midwest. The project also would provide stipends for two 12-week Native American Collections Care Fellows.

Myriad Consulting and Training Incorporated, Gainesville, FL – Award: $350,000

The establishment of a field conservation department, which would offer 20 free assessment consultations of born-digital art collections and an online training program to 48 museum professionals.

New York University, New York, NY – Award: $349,798

Stipends for 20 semester-long internships in New York and 18 summer internships across the country as part of the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation graduate program of New York University.

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY – Award: $349,515

The creation of online and in-person training programs, as well as an equipment-lending program, to promote the use of Multispectral Imaging System for Historical Artifacts (MISHA) and develop communities of practice.

University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ – Award: $349,357

Paid internships for 12 undergraduates and 12 MLIS students at the University of Arizona to work with humanities collections at the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research (LTRR) and learn best practices in collection and archival management, and a workshop on wet salvage for interns and other emerging professionals in the region.

University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL – Award: $341,959

A training program for 30 undergraduate students with instruction in preservation and archival methods, paid semester-long internships with local historical societies and museums, and an additional semester of professional development with faculty mentors.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Regents of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN – Award: $99,782

A Tier I project to develop a digitization workflow and prototype open-source online viewer for historical, interactive flap books.

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY – Award: $341,983

A Tier II project to evaluate the use of phase change materials for passive temperature control of microclimate enclosures during display, storage, and transit of cultural heritage materials vulnerable to rapid changes in temperature.

University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA – Award: $93,343

A project to develop a Spanish-language translation and localization of Mukurtu CMS [content management system] and a selection of its support materials to allow for culturally responsive and ethically minded documentation, access, and use of Indigenous collections.

University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA – Award: $349,221

The development of a standard for shared stewardship and voluntary returns of unprovenanced or unethically acquired archaeological and ethnographic artifacts to their communities of origin.

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Supported by a Research and Development grant, the University of California, Los Angeles, will facilitate the voluntary return of international archaeological and ethnographic objects to their communities of origin. Here, doctoral candidates Mary Anastasi (left) and Maryan Ragheb, students in the Waystation Certificate Program, discuss a tripod pitcher from China. 

Photo by Lyssa Stapleton, 2023.

University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD – Award: $349,590

A project to develop and test new scalable approaches to reparative metadata using the Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC) platform as a model for facilitating Indigenous archival discovery and description.

WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, MA – Award: $349,326

A Tier II project to develop a simplified data model for PBCore, a metadata schema used by heritage institutions in the management and interchange of information about audiovisual assets.

CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY RESILIENCE

Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Inc., Red Wing, MN – Award: $149,445

A collecting initiative from three Tribes whose homelands include the Mississippi River to gather, document, and archive stories and testimonies about their experiences of living in relationship with water, flooding, and climate change.

CUNY Research Foundation, LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City, NY – Award: $150,000

The creation of an intergenerational oral history collection of 42 interviews, which would explore alienation from nature and traditional practices in the face of climate change in Queens, New York.

High Desert Museum, Bend, OR – Award: $140,795

A project to create 30 long-form video interviews with individuals from diverse backgrounds in central and eastern Oregon who are experiencing climate change.

National Yiddish Book Center, Inc., Amherst, MA – Award: $150,000

The creation of 25 audiovisual interviews and a collection of digital materials to explore Yiddish cultural resilience through the surge in online Yiddish-language study and community-building during the pandemic. The project would make the collection of interviews available online and create an accompanying virtual exhibition.

North Kohala Community Resource Center, Hawi, HI – Award: $150,000

A project to document and preserve oral histories of the North Kohala (Hawai‘i) community, with a focus on the impacts of climate change on their ‘āina (land), traditions, and cultural practices.

Northern Marianas College, Saipan, MP – Award: $149,998

The establishment of the Rediscovering Resilience Initiative and the hiring of one research fellow, who would lead the collection of 50 oral histories from individuals representing farming and fishing communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Kingston, WA – Award: $133,971

The collection of 30 oral histories from Tribal elders as well as the production of 10 intergenerational events focused on teaching and sharing community and cultural practices of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe.

Sealaska Heritage Institute, Inc., Juneau, AK – Award: $149,961

Creation of an oral history archive with 17 semi-structured interviews and field observations to record the Indigenous knowledge of herring harvesters whose practices have been adversely affected by climate change and COVID-19 in southeast Alaska. A final report, peer-reviewed paper, presentations, and a short video would also result from this project.

South Asian American Digital Archive, NFP, Philadelphia, PA – Award: $150,000

The collection of 30 oral histories documenting the experiences of South Asian American small business owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. The oral histories would be made available online with supporting materials and virtual exhibits.

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The South Asian American Digital Archive will use a Cultural and Community Resilience award to document stories of South Asian American small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In one of their interviews, Pradeep Deol says, “I remember going home that night, after the grand opening, being like ‘[****], we gotta do this every day.’ . . . Ever since then it’s been like a roller coaster, just going up and down.” 

Interview by Sanjana Nigam, artwork by Bhumika Mukherjee.

University of Georgia, Athens, GA – Award: $150,000

Documenting the impacts of flooding, land loss, and sea level rise on a Gullah Geechee community through oral histories, photography, and mapping of culturally significant sites. The project would make its outcomes publicly available for research and create an exhibit in community spaces on Sapelo Island and at the University of Georgia.

University of Hawaii Systems, Honolulu, HI – Award: $150,000

A project to collect oral narratives related to the history, present, and future of water on Maui, focusing on the “Four Great Waters” area of Central Maui as well as the Lāhainā area.

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI – Award: $149,981

The collection of 20 oral histories and establishment of a community advisory board for the Ypsi Farmers and Gardeners Oral History Project in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC – Award: $149,999

The collection of 25 oral histories from North Carolinian community health workers, primarily from the western part of the state.

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX – Award: $150,000

The collection, archiving, and digitization of oral histories of 15 migrant farmworker mothers in the Río Grande Valley, Texas, as well as access to those histories.

Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, VT – Award: $149,960

The collection of 30 to 40 oral histories and creation of an archive that documents the experiences of resettled refugees with climate change in Vermont and the impact of climate change on their foodways.

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI – Award: $126,139

The expansion of the Hamtramck Explorer deep map to include local archival and archaeological objects, the ability for the public to submit their own community stories and information, and an enhanced mobile interface.

Wisconsin Library Services, Inc, Madison, WI – Award: $149,799

The development of a Rapid Response Community Archivist program to assist Native nations in Wisconsin with urgent archival and collections management projects.