WASHINGTON - The National Park Service (NPS) announced today the award of $386,000 in grants to develop or adapt techniques that preserve historical sites and cultural heritage. The Preservation Technology and Training grants will fund projects that use modern methods to enhance historic preservation.
"Several of this year’s grant projects incorporate podcasts, websites, and social media to better document cultural landscapes and improve sharing of research," said Acting NPS Director Michael T. Reynolds. “It's exciting to see the innovative research, training, and publications that spring from these grants."
Since 1994, the NPS National Center for Preservation Technology and Training has awarded more than $10 million in grants to fund science and technology-based historic preservation projects.
Examples from this year include:
* The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum will study iconic New Mexico viewsheds portrayed in the works of 20th-century artist, Georgia O’Keeffe. In addition, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum will document the study findings in a database for the public to use to better understand the artist’s landscape.
* The Cultural Landscape Foundation will create critical new features in the “What's Out There" database, one of the nation's most comprehensive online resources on historic designed landscapes, which will allow users to export search results for a variety of research uses.
* The University of Arkansas will develop an automated system capable of employing more realistic 3-D shapes to improve the way deteriorated historic masonry structures are modeled.
A full list of this year's grant recipients is below. For more information about the NPS Center for Preservation Technology and Training, including these grants, please visit www.ncptt.nps.gov.
State Grantee
Project Title Amount
Arkansas University of Arkansas
Structural Deterioration Modeling Using the Discrete Element Method $40,000
California Sonoma State University
Modeling Environmental Change Effects to Coastal Historic Landscapes and Cultural Resources, Point Reyes $39,800
Colorado Colorado Mesa University
Using Forensic Methods to Study Historic Rifle Data $30,800
District of Columbia The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Enhanced Usability of The Cultural Landscape Foundation's online What's Out There database $14,000
Florida Gulf Archeology Research Institute
Rapid Midden Assessment - Site Condition Delineation in Crystal Bay, Florida $38,500
Florida US Air Force Space and Missile Museum Foundation
Preserving Aerospace Heritage on Outdoor Display: Examining the Performance of Protective Coatings on Painted Aluminum for Preventative Maintenance $27,700
Louisiana Louisiana State University and A&M College
Using Synchrotron Radiation Based Techniques for the Detailed Chemical-Geometric Characterization of Archeological Pottery and Ceramics $40,000
Montana Montana History Foundation
Integrating technology for Montana's Historic Cemeteries and Sacred Sites $25,400
New Mexico Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Viewshed Project: Database Construction $30,000
Pennsylvania Drexel University
Probabilistic Heat, Air, and Moisture Performance of Historic Wood Framed Facades to Characterize the Impacts of Environmental Change including Degradation of Components $40,000
Texas Southern Methodist University
Testing and Treatment of Microbial Impacts on Generic Archeological Collections $40,000
Washington Washington State Parks and Recreation
Protective Treatments for Western Red Cedar Shingle and Shake Roofs (Year 2) $19,800
Total $386,000
www.nps.gov
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 417 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.
Tags: grants historic preservation technology arizona california colorado district of columbia florida louisiana montana new mexico pennsylvania texas washington
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
