Spring 2005 Update

Save America's Treasures Funding in Jeopardy

Save America’s Treasures, a major source of grants for treatment and rehousing of nationally significant collections, is in danger of having its funding cut in half for 2006.

In recent years the federal appropriation for Save America’s Treasures has been $30 million annually. The President’s budget for 2006 proposes reducing the appropriation to $15 million.

Projects funded last year by Save America’s Treasures include:

• $450,000 to the Autry Center of the American West for conservation treatment and rehousing of fragile artifacts in the American Indian Collection
• $239,000 to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for treatment and storage of manuscripts, letters, and photographs in the Carl Sandburg Collection
• $347,000 to the New Jersey Division of Archives & Records Management for treatment and archival housing of Revolutionary War documents
• $300,000 to the University of Georgia for migrating programs in its Peabody Awards Collection from deteriorating videotape to a stable digital format.

To preserve future funding for these kinds of urgently needed projects, contact your representatives in Congress and request that they help restore full funding for Save America’s Treasures. Additional information is available at www.nationaltrust.org, or call Moira Egan at 202-233-0800.