The National Endowment for the Humanities recently announced that 346 successful applicants will receive a total of $12 million in grants or offers of matching funds for a variety of programs, including preservation and access grants to help cultural institutions protect and preserve their collections.

It is under this category that the N.H. State Library received a $5,000 grant for We The People: Assessing the 18th-and 19th-Century New Hampshire Maps and Atlases. The project consists of a conservation assessment of the State Library's New Hampshire and New England map and atlas collection from the 18th and 19th centuries, and the purchase of storage furniture and preservation supplies.

"The Humanities convey the story of civilization, and today's NEH grant recipients are deeply engaged in advancing that story through new scholarly research and taking important strides to preserve the material record of our history and culture," said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. "NEH supports projects that are rigorous and wide-ranging, and substantial in their examination and illumination of the great events and great ideas of the past in our own nation and throughout the world."

Janet Eklund, Administrator of Library Operations for the N.H. State Library adds, "This is the second NEH grant the N.H. State Library has received in four years to assess its humanities collections. These grants provide much-needed funds for important conservation and preservation projects such as this. I encourage all libraries to apply for similar funding which can assist them in reaching their goals." The deadline for this year's NEH Preservation Assistance Grants is May 15th. For more information, you may visit their website at www.neh.gov.