Conservation Grants Now Available from New Hampshire State Library

State funding is now available to non-profit publicly owned institutions to implement and to conduct preservation and conservation activities. Funds raised from the sale of Conservation License Plates (the "moose plates") are allocated to the Department of Cultural Resources to supplement existing state conservation and preservation programs [RSA 261-97]. The purpose of the Conservation Grant Program within the Department of Cultural Resources is to promote the use and conservation of cultural resources in New Hampshire and to preserve the cultural heritage that belongs to all New Hampshire citizens.

Maximum grant awards of $10,000 are available for activities that will enhance access to resources and safeguard rare or endangered treasures. Preservation projects for collections will be evaluated on the significance of the materials to be preserved, quality of needs assessment, user group and purpose involved, barriers to access to the existing content, collaborative elements proposed and long-term viability.

Who is Eligible?

New Hampshire non-profit organizations managing publicly-owned resources

New Hampshire museums associated with non-profit organizations

New Hampshire public, school, academic and special libraries

New Hampshire state, county and municipal agencies

What Projects are Eligible?
To be considered eligible for funding, projects must conserve and preserve significant publicly owned works of art, artifacts, collections, microfilm, photographs and documents that contribute to New Hampshire's cultural heritage. This shall include but not be limited to:

Original, rare or one-of-a-kind documents

Intellectual and cultural artifacts

Historically significant collections

What is Funded?

Preservation and/or conservation work including but not limited to deacidification, cleaning, encapsulation, and framing

Consultant services and/or assessment surveys

Physical preservation methods such as microfilming, special repair or rebinding

Specialized preservation supplies to house materials that have received conservation treatment

Processing of unprocessed archives and manuscripts

Deadline for grant proposals is August 15, 2003.

For More Information:

Contact Janet Eklund, 271-2393, e-mail: jeklund@library.state.nh.us.

Application and Instructions can be found at: http://nh.gov/nhsl/moose.html.