Heritage Advocate Awards recipients

Missouri State Museum and Muscoot Farm win Heritage Advocate Award
Museums recognized for innovative public outreach to save their
collections

The Missouri State Museum in Jefferson City, Missouri, and the
Muscoot Farm in Katonah, New York, are the winners of the Heritage
Advocate Award, sponsored by Heritage Preservation and the Institute
of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  Each institution will
receive $3,750 in recognition of outstanding projects that educated
the public about the risks faced by collections, and the importance
of appropriate care to protect these treasures.

The Heritage Advocate Awards are part of Connecting to Collections:
A Call to Action, a multi-faceted national initiative of the IMLS.
Museums, libraries and archives in the Mid-Atlantic and in the
Midwest were invited to attend workshops at which experts worked
with participants on ideas for media relations, public outreach and
fund-raising on behalf of collections care.  Public fascination with
conservation can be an untapped resource; the goal of the workshops
was to demonstrate how to use conservation issues to broaden funding
and public appeal. In order to encourage participants to put what
they learned into action, all were encouraged to conduct a project
at their home institution, with the most successful receiving this
award.

At the Missouri State Museum, staff turned the "eviction" of the
collection from storage in the basement of the State Capitol into an
opportunity.  Not only is the new space, in a converted warehouse, a
big improvement in providing a safe environment for the collection,
but the staff also used the move to educate decision-makers and
stakeholders about conservation and collections care.  When the new
facility opened, the Museum hosted an evening gala at the site with
80 guests representing donors, state, county, and city government,
and local businesses. With a focus on collections care activities,
staff engaged their guests with custom-made posters, conversation,
and hands-on features.  The event improved awareness and has sparked
significant results.  A similar tour was requested for members of
the Missouri State Legislature, and the Friends of the Missouri
State Museum support group has been formed to further promote the
museum and its preservation activities.  More tours are already
being planned as museum and government departmental decision makers
are being educated on the importance of collections care.

As a living history museum, Muscoot Farm in Katonah, New York has
always given priority to the animals that are the most visible parts
of its collection.  However, the Raising the Bar Workshop inspired
the staff of Muscoot to conduct programs to get the public excited
about the collections that do not need to be fed every day, but do
need increased TLC in order to survive and flourish.  A series of
four events in the fall of 2010 used the collections to teach
visitors not only about farm life, but also about documenting and
caring for collections.  Treasures and Tea, the first-ever behind
the scenes tour of the farm house's second floor, sold out quickly
and will be replicated all through 2011, using the collections to
build advocacy for collections care and bring in funding. As a
result of the success of the project, the Friends of Muscoot have
agreed to match the $3,750 award.  These new funds will be put to
good use in purchasing equipment for safe care of documents and
photographs in the new archive room, which the staff was inspired to
create after participating in the Raising the Bar Workshop.

   "We are pleased to announce these awards during national
    Preservation Week," said Lawrence Reger, President of Heritage
    Preservation. "These institutions' commitment to their
    collections and enthusiasm for involving their communities will
    serve as an inspiration to other museums and libraries across
    the nation."

Six additional institutions received Honorable Mention for their
excellent projects.  They are:

    Duluth Children's Museum
    Duluth, Minnesota

    Fireman's Hall Museum
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Newport News Public Library System
    Newport News, Virginia

    Piatt County Museum
    Monticello, Illinois

    Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site
    Buffalo, New York

    White River Valley Historical Society
    Forsyth, Missouri

Descriptions of the projects conducted by each Honorable Mention
recipient can be found at

    <URL:http://www.heritagepreservation.org>

The cash awards presented by Heritage Preservation to the Missouri
State Museum and Muscoot Farm were funded by the Bay and Paul
Foundations and the Peck Stacpoole Foundation.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:49
                 Distributed: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-24-49-001
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