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GHHN RECEIVES $186,000 GRANT FROM THE ROBERT DAVID LION GARDINER FOUNDATION FOR 2023 CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM: TREATMENT, PRESERVATION SUPPLIES AND SITE ASSESSMENT TO SUPPORT PROJECTS FROM LONG ISLAND AND NEW YORK CITY
GHHN (Greater Hudson Heritage Network) is honored to enter into a continued partnership with the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation for $186,000 (over three years) to provide dedicated funding for Long Island and New York City museums through the Conservation Grant Program.
Launched in 2000 and expanded in 2023, the Conservation Grant Program: Treatment, Preservation Supplies, and Site Assessment Program is administered by Greater Hudson Heritage Network, in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation (RDLGF) will support projects from Long Island and New York City. These additional dedicated funds will be made available during the 2023 Conservation Grant Program grant year.
"The management and care of art and artifacts in the collations of our historic stewards is a Herculean task. RDLGF's funding of the Greater Hudson Heritage Network's professional guidance on conservation and preservation is an invaluable resource to our historic 501(c)(3s). RDLGF is delighted to be partnering with NYSCA in offering this support and our continued collaboration with the Greater Hudson Heritage Network." said Kathryn M. Curran, Executive Director of the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
“GHHN is grateful to the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation for their ongoing gracious support and partnership. These dedicated Conservation Grant funds will enable Long Island and New York City museums to conserve their collections for the benefit of future generations,” said Priscilla Brendler, Executive Director of GHHN.
Conservation Grant Program: Preservation Supplies and Site Assessment grants will allow eligible institutions from Long Island and New York City to purchase needed collection care supplies, including but not limited to storage boxes, acid-free tissue paper, artifact trays, dividers, UV filtering film, Tyvek sheeting, cotton tying tape, item ID tags, HEPA vacuums, dehumidifiers, polyester batting, Ethafoam, environmental monitors, etc. The program additionally provides funds for half-day site assessments by a collections consultant to discuss specific areas of museum stewardship.
The Conservation Grant Program: Treatment Grants provides support for treatment procedures by professional conservators to aid in stabilizing, preserving, and making accessible to the public an array of unique objects ‘at risk’ in collections of Long Island and New York City museums, historical and cultural organizations of all sizes. Grant funding can treat paintings, works on paper, textiles, furniture, sculpture, ethnographic, historical, and decorative objects, and may also support accompanying professional treatment of frames, supports, stands, and mounts if integral to the final public presentation of the object, after conservation.
Past Gardiner Conservation Treatment Grant Program support has included:
· Bowne House Historical Society: a 19th-century Black doll that will become part of an exhibition focused on the Bowne and Parsons families’ involvement in the Abolitionist Movement and the Underground Railroad as well as the free Black community within Flushing.
· Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council: a Service flag, also called a Blue Star Mothers Flag (c.1917), designed and patented by WWI Army Captain Robert L. Queisser in 1917, the flag quickly became the unofficial symbol of a child in service. As they often hung outdoors, few survived.
· Hispanic Society of America: 6 Mantones (shawls) dated between 1800 and 1920s. Among objects that Spanish immigrants brought to America, these shawls are featured in exhibitions centered on diverse cultures and the immigrant experience developed as a result of trade routes.
· Louis Armstrong House Museum: oil on canvas of Lucille Armstrong (c.1940), dancer and wife of jazz musician Louis Armstrong, painted by artist Samuel Countee. The painting figures prominently in the house tour and serves as an introduction of the importance of Lucille, who dedicated her life to preserving her husband’s legacy and serving her community.
These grants lead to public impact outcomes beyond the actual preservation and conservation activities, including a new interest in Long Island and New York City’s incredibly varied collections and increased public awareness of the museum's role as steward, and have proven a spark to further institutional, strategic, financial and long-range conservation planning. Beyond these outcomes, grant recipients report that Conservation Grant Program funding prompts greater use of collections (for exhibition, web content, and loan), enhanced interpretive capability, and expanded opportunities to educate the public about art, history, humanities, the science of conservation, and museum work itself.
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