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Heritage Preservation is pleased to announce that the Getty Grant Program and the Kress Foundation have made significant grants to the Heritage Health Index, and we are preparing to distribute the survey in July 2004. The Heritage Health Index study will—for the first time—produce a national picture of the state of artistic, historic, and scientific collections held by the archives, historical societies, libraries, museums, and scientific research organizations that care for them. The project is being conducted by Heritage Preservation in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, with major funding from the Getty Grant Program and additional support from the Bay Foundation, Samuel H. Kress Foundation, Peck Stacpoole Foundation, and Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Heritage Preservation will distribute the survey questionnaire to approximately 16,000 of the roughly 50,000 collecting institutions that exist nationwide. Most of these will be selected randomly and will represent collecting institutions of all types and sizes in all U.S. states and territories. The remainder will be institutions that have been identified as holding the largest and most significant collections. Institutions that are contacted to complete the Heritage Health Index questionnaire are encouraged to participate in this important data collection effort. Many institutions that tested the survey questionnaire noted that it provided a comprehensive self-assessment that could be used in long-range preservation plans and funding requests. Written with the input of more than 60 preservation professionals, the questionnaire includes all aspects of collections care, including environmental conditions, preservation activities, preservation staff, preservation budget, and size and condition of collections. An online version of the questionnaire is in development, giving participants a choice of submitting their response online or on paper. The results and recommendations that come out of the Heritage Health Index will be publicized and distributed widely and given to key national and state policy makers. The data will give collecting institutions and their leadership an opportunity to view their collections’ condition and preservation needs in the context of those of their peers. The Heritage Health Index’s Web page is currently calling for photographs and stories about collections that are in need of or have benefited from a preservation effort. Heritage Preservation will select case studies to illustrate the findings from the Heritage Health Index. Additional updates on the Heritage Health Index will be sent by e-mail and announced on www.heritagepreservation.org as Heritage Preservation moves toward the survey distribution date this summer. |
Watch Your Inbox: Heritage Health Index Survey Coming This Summer!