[NHCOLL-L:945] Save America's Treasures

[Roberta Faul-Zeitler]

March 13, 2001


You might want to check the ASC homepage for details on Save America's
Treasures. In FY 2001, $18 million of the $30 million in Save America's
Treasures funding went for projects earmarked by members of Congress (none
of them natural history museums) or for federal sites (primarily for
architectural restoration). The remaining $12 million went to 41
institutions. Of these, three were for natural history projects-- and all 3
were in archeology (Two were ASC members -- Utah Museum of Natural History
and Illinois State Museum). These were among the smallest  dollar awards
given. Here is the copy from ASC's front page news story:

" Two of ASC’s member museums are among the 41 nonprofit organizations
across the United States that recently were awarded nearly $12 million in FY
2000 funding through Save America’s Treasures, a program administered by the
National Park Service that highlights the importance of preserving America’s
cultural heritage. An additional $3 million will support historic
preservation work at six federal sites in various parts of the country.
The Illinois State Museum in Springfield, Ill., was awarded $55,000 to help
preserve the Cahokia Mounds Archeological Collection. The Utah Museum of
Natural History, Salt Lake City, received $50,000 for preservation of the
Promontory Cave Collection. "

The critical issue here is the need for ongoing stable sources of funding to
preserve America's natural science collections and make them available to
the public.

http://www.ascoll.org/whatsnew.htm#Save America’s Treasures Grants

Bobbie



Roberta Faul-Zeitler
Executive Director
Association of Systematics Collections
1725 K Street NW, Suite 601
Washington DC 20006
Tel. (202) 835-9050
FAX (202) 835-7334
Email: faulzeitler at ascoll.org
ASC is changing its name to the Natural Science Collections Alliance in
Spring 2001.