Congrats to these Affiliates on their recent accomplishments!

Funding
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced grants for 206 museum projects totaling $21,149,000, including the following Affiliate initiatives:

Historic Annapolis (Annapolis, MD) Award: $150,000.00
Historic Annapolis will design, fabricate, and install the proposed exhibition, “A History of Annapolis in 99 Objects.” The exhibition will tell the broad, inclusive story of Maryland’s capital city.

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA)  Award: $150,000.00
The National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) will develop a small-scale traveling exhibition to broaden access to stories of the American Jewish people for schools, synagogues, and museums across the country. “Let My People Go: The Movement to Free Soviet Jews” will feature custom curricula, a programming handbook, and pre-designed marketing materials to inspire dialogue on contemporary issues of immigration, refugees, and religious freedom.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO)  Award: $128,506.00
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science will deliver, expand, and evaluate whole-school museum education experiences for all students and teachers in elementary and K-8 schools in two under-resourced school districts.

Mystic Seaport (Mystic, CT)  Award:  $24,971.00
Mystic Seaport will extend the reach, impact, and diversity of its first-person interpretation program which is a hallmark of the museum experience. New interpreters will conduct extensive historical research, participate in professional development opportunities, and create costumes to develop their characters.

Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR)  Award:  $25,000.00
The Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico will continue its Art and Technology for Youth at Risk initiative which provides learning opportunities for at-risk young adults by integrating museum programming and exhibits, and partner organization programming, into an afterschool program.

San Diego Natural History Museum  (San Diego, CA)  Award:  $148,239.00
The San Diego Natural History Museum will design a program entitled SPECTRUM, which will provide a structured opportunity for high-functioning, verbal young adults (ages 18-25) with autism spectrum disorder to collaborate with their peers in practicing social skills and participate in organized fieldtrips.

National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium (Dubuque, IA)  Award:  $148,795.00
The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium will catalog, inventory, document, and re-house approximately 6,200 undocumented or under-documented objects in their collection, representing 35 percent of their total collection. This documentation is critical to the continued understanding of the people and cultures of the Mississippi River.

B & O Railroad Museum  (Baltimore, MD)  Award:  $150,000.00
The B&O Railroad Museum will undertake the restoration and treatment of B&O #51, the first streamlined diesel locomotive put into service, which in 1937 represented a major shift in locomotive technology. Project activities include research and documentation, asbestos abatement, preservation of original materials, inspection and restoration of subassemblies, and restoring original locomotive finishes to their 1937 appearances.

Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum  (Clewiston, FL)  Award:  $105,600.00
The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Indian Museum will install high-density moveable shelving in the museum’s main building vault. The proposed shelving will double the vault’s storage space, allowing materials to be properly stored and creating much-needed room for future collection growth.

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Seattle, WA)  Award: $148,531.00
In anticipation of a new museum facility, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington will improve the collection care, management, and accessibility of its malacology (shell) collection, considered the most extensive and valuable in the Pacific Northwest.

Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)  Award:  $149,164.00
The Arizona State Museum will re-house 2,000 archeological basketry specimens with high scholarly significance and interest to the museum and its audiences and will treat 116 high-priority archeological items identified as unstable and threatened with further deterioration.

San Diego Museum of Man  (San Diego, CA)  Award:  $149,534.00
The San Diego Museum of Man (SDMoM) will improve stewardship and collection management of its ethnographic weapons collection by re-housing 3,000 artifacts for long-term preservation.

Museum of History and Industry (Seattle, WA)  Award:  $149,977.00
The Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) will create high-quality digital images with metadata tags for 5,287 artifacts, archival materials, photographs, and oral histories relating to the diverse history of the Seattle and Puget Sound region. Images will be searchable by the public and staff through the museum’s online collections management system and through a shared regional online repository hosted by the University of Washington.

Plimoth Plantation (Plymouth, MA)  Award:  $149,245.00
Plimoth Plantation will partner with Mystic Seaport’s Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard to restore 27 planks along the lower port side of the Mayflower II’s hull as part of the larger effort to return the vessel to U.S. Coast Guard operational status, scheduled for 2020.

San Diego Air & Space Museum  (San Diego, CA)  Award:  $150,000.00
The San Diego Air & Space Museum will improve its management of and broaden access to 30,000 collection objects in phase two of its Great Explorations project. Project activities will include connecting this database to the museum’s digital asset management system; and making the data and images available via Flickr, the museum’s website, and its online catalog, AeroCat.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science (Denver, CO)  Award:  $149,975.00
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science will conduct conservation stabilization treatment for 375 high-priority objects in its American Ethnology Collection of materials from 420 American Indian tribes, including clothing and accessories, cradleboards, musical instruments and toys, kachina, household items, horse gear and travel, and weapons.

Denver Art Museum (Denver, CO)  Award:  $128,065.00
The Denver Art Museum will catalog, document, migrate, and rehouse 425 electronic media artworks in four of its art and design collections. This collection includes artworks with video, audio, digital image, software, and website components contained on a range of storage media including videotapes, audiotapes, optical media, computer diskettes, and external hard drives.

Michigan State University Museum  (East Lansing, MI)  Award:  $50,607.00
Michigan State University Museum will conduct general conservation surveys of the museum’s natural science and cultural collections and begin to implement short-term care and rehousing improvements.

Springfield Museums (Springfield, MA)  Award:  $106,592.00
The Springfield Museums will stabilize and restore twenty Tiffany stained glass windows that are original to the main facade of the historic George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum which opened in 1896. The goals of the project are to stabilize the windows and to restore them, as closely as possible, to their original appearance and condition, using appropriate conservation techniques and materials.

International Museum of Art & Science (McAllen, TX)  Award:  $24,946.00
The International Museum of Art & Science will improve the storage conditions for their framed art collection of approximately 600 pieces. The museum will purchase five mobile art racks and nineteen art storage shelves that will be installed in the museum’s storage room.

History Colorado (Denver, CO) has been awarded a $2.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program. The project explores the integration of Native American knowledge with Western science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The five-year grant will engage 128,000 STEM learners, educators, and experts across Colorado and Utah in: cutting-edge archaeological and ethnobotanical field work;  interactive exhibits and videos; public programs for families and adults; statewide K-12 education outreach programs, digital badges, and teacher training; and findings for museums, tribes, and scientists.

University Corporation For Atmospheric Research (UCAR) (Boulder, CO) has been awarded a $228,110 grant from NSF. The project, Integrating Indigenous and Western Knowledge to Transform Learning and Discovery in the Geosciences, uses the principles of collective impact to create new partnerships between tribal communities and STEM institutions that promote the participation and inclusion of Native American scientists in the geosciences.