AIC's 42nd Annual Meeting

Over the last decade, the challenge of creating an appropriate preservation environment for cultural collections has been made even greater as collections professionals are increasingly faced with the need to balance environmental conditions against budgetary shortfalls and institutional sustainability efforts.  Even as energy expenditures on the environmental aspects of preventive conservation have come under closer scrutiny, recent research into materials and mechanical systems have highlighted opportunities and strategies to reconcile the seemingly disparate goals of energy efficiency and a quality preservation environment.  Started in 2009, the Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (SCHC) program of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has become one of the key resources available for cultural institutions looking for funding and guidance to simultaneously improve the quality and the sustainability of their collections storage and display environments.  Since then, a number of grant recipients have used the funding to carefully analyze and dissect the operation of their preservation environments and the mechanical systems that create them, to build stronger working relationships with their facilities and maintenance colleagues, and to identify opportunities for improvement in both preservation and sustainability. 

This session will concentrate on exposing participants to three different perspectives of the grant program and its projects – those of the funding agency, the applicant institution, and an outside consultant – and will reflect on lessons learned and the larger impact of the work done over the last four years.  Laura Word, a Senior Program Officer in the Division of Preservation and Access, has been a strong advocate for the program since its inception, and will discuss NEH’s goals in offering the SCHC grants, features of strong proposals, and the impact the program has had on participating institutions.  Erin Blake, the Curator of Art & Special Collections at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Project Manager of the Folger’s successful 2009 and 2012 Planning and Implementation projects under the SCHC program, will discuss the Folger’s own experiences, from the inception of the project goals and plan, to building a project team with internal and external partners, to using the results of the project to advocate for and improve both preservation and energy consumption.  Jeremy Linden, a Senior Preservation Environment Specialist at the Image Permanence Institute, has served as the primary consultant on a number of SCHC projects, including the Folger’s, and will discuss the practice of environmental optimization and how improved preservation environments and reduced energy usage can be achieved in a variety of institutions and settings.

The aim of the session is to introduce participants to the possibilities and opportunities that exist for holistic environmental management in a changing climate, to provide them with greater knowledge on what it takes to craft a successful proposal to this unique program, and to reflect on what we have learned as a profession on the potential of marrying preservation and sustainability.