Research Spotlight: Museum Awarded NEH Grant
CLEVELAND, OH—August 30, 2024—This month, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History was awarded a $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) to support the sustainable preservation of the Museum’s critical humanities collection, including anthropology, fine arts, rare books collections, and archives.
The project, titled “Ensuring the Sustainable Preservation of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Humanities Collection,” will result in more stable climate control while increasing energy efficiency and ultimately advancing the Museum's environmental sustainability goals. This is the largest NEH grant the Museum has ever received, and the first in nearly 40 years since receiving the previous in 1986.
Spearheading the project is Dr. Meghan Strong, Director of Collections, who manages the Museum's collections and collections specialists and has worked on international cultural heritage focusing on collections care, curation, and materials science. “The goal of this project is to care for our humanities collection to the highest professional standards, while at the same time ensuring that our environmental systems have as minimal impact as possible on the planet,” said Dr. Strong.
Unique in both quantity and quality, the Museum’s Humanities collections include approximately 15,000 objects within the Cultural Anthropology department—ranging in date from the modern era to more than 6,000 years ago—as well as 7,000 objects within the Fine Arts collection, which includes paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and more. Additionally, the Rare Books collection, comprising about 1,000 volumes, is a selection of books of high historical and/or aesthetic value. Flagship components of the collection are the first edition natural history plates from the Description de l’Égypte commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and a bound first edition set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America.
“Our humanities collections are made from a variety of materials, and each comes with their own unique set of challenges and needs,” said Dr. Strong. “This grant will allow us to provide the best foundation for collections care—stable temperature and relative humidity levels year-round—and from there, we can dial in on specific objects that may need specialized environments.”
The project began in 2019 and was divided into three phases that would ensure ideal environmental conditions for the storage and preservation of Museum collections. The first two phases involved the construction of a central utility plant (CUP)—completed in 2023—and the installation of a new 20,000-square-foot storage facility and fire suppression system—to be completed in late 2024. With the support of the NEH grant, the third and final phase of the project will replace the current 35-year-old HVAC system to modernize the Museum’s climate control capabilities and address the need for microclimates within a collection.
Since the Museum first launched its Transforming the World of Discovery campaign, which aims to reimagine its entire building and campus, one of its primary goals has been to create state-of-the-art storage facilities and galleries for the long-term preservation of collections. “This award will greatly advance our efforts to preserve the Museum’s unique collections,” said Sonia Winner, Museum President & CEO. “At the same time, it will support our environmental sustainability goals—ensuring that the Museum remains a leader on sustainability issues in Ohio and beyond.”
About the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History illuminates the world around us and inspires visitors to engage with the natural forces that shape their lives. Since its founding in 1920, the Museum has pioneered scientific research to advance knowledge across diverse fields of study and used its outstanding collections, which encompass millions of artifacts and specimens, to deepen the public’s understanding of the dynamic connections between humans and nature. Through its Natural Areas Program, the Museum stewards more than 12,000 acres of protected ecosystems across northern Ohio. A community gathering place, educational center, and research institution, the Museum is a vital resource that serves Cleveland and the nation. For more information, visit CMNH.org.
Media Contacts:
Samantha Guenther, External Communications Manager
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
440-429-2902
[email protected]