Important Conservation Grant Awarded!

The Sarah Green Sampler, 1816.

AUGUST, 23, 2005, SOUTHOLD, NY. The Southold Historical Society is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a Conservation Treatment Grant (CTG) by the Lower Hudson Conference of Historical Agencies & Museums (LHC). $105,000 in conservation grants were awarded to 32 organizations, in association with the Museum Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency.

“We are quite pleased that we have been able to receive this award again,” stated Geoffrey Fleming, Director of the Society, “It is rare that an institution is able to receive funding for three years in a row,” he added. The total funds awarded to the Society by the Conservation Treatment Program (CTG) was $835.00.

These re-granted funds provide support for treatment procedures by professional conservators, to aid in stabilizing and preserving a wide array of unique objects in collections of museum, historical and cultural organizations in New York State.

The grant awarded to the Society will fund the conservation and preservation of a 19th century sampler created by Sarah Green.  The sampler depicts embroidered text of the 23rd Psalm.  It was created in 1816.

The conservation work will be performed by Katherine E. Barker of the Textile Conservation Workshop located in South Salem, New York.  The workshop is noted throughout the Northeast for their conservation of period textiles.

Grant funding was available for conservation treatment of paintings, works on paper, textiles, furniture, sculpture, ethnographic, historical and decorative objects. The grant program also offered support for professional treatment of frames, supports, stands and mounts that are integral to the final presentation of the object, after conservation.

Awards were made for prioritized, urgently needed conservation of objects that, once treated, will impact on public interpretive programs, exhibitions and education.

The Lower Hudson Conference received thirty-one applications from collections in nineteen counties of New York State, requesting an aggregate of over $291, 000 in grant support. Thirty-two awards were recommended by a professional peer panel of conservators and curators. This year’s individual Conservation Treatment grants ranged from $423 to $7500.

For further information on this award, please contact Geoffrey Fleming at 765-5500 or visit the Society’s website at www.southoldhistoricalsociety.org .