President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities Immediate Release –11 December 2006 Interior Department and Partners Announce $7.6 Million in Save America’s Treasures Grants Critical preservation and conservation funds given to historic properties, sites, documents, artistic works and artifacts

Washington, DC-- The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) and the National Park Service (NPS), today announced that 42 Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grants totaling $7.6 million have been awarded to preservation and conservation groups around the nation. The NPS and the President’s Committee oversee the Save America’s Treasures program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Save America’s Treasures competitive awards preserve the nation’s most significant endangered intellectual and cultural artifacts, historic structures and historic sites. The range of this year’s awards covers the breadth of American history and culture-- from preserving the Nellie L. Byrd, one of the Chesapeake Bay’s few remaining skipjacks, to saving Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, a Civil Rights landmark. Other grants will restore the Gettysburg Cyclorama and the letters and journals of prominent leaders of the American Revolution. “Save America’s Treasures grants help address the very real threats to our nation’s historic and cultural treasures, a legacy held in trust by all Americans,” said Mrs. Laura Bush, Honorary Chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. “Through this program President Bush and I want to encourage public and private efforts to carry forward the work of generations in keeping these vital pieces of the nation alive for our children and their children.” Save America’s Treasures grants provide critical funds to organizations and institutions to repair failing roofs and deteriorating walls; to restore faded paintings and corroded sculptures; and to conserve disintegrating documents. Overall, 19 awards were made to institutions with collections, artifacts, artistic works or documents and 23 awards were made to organizations caring for structures and sites. Some 327 groups applied for SAT funds this year. Successful applicants must demonstrate the national significance of the cultural or historical resource for which they care and make a compelling case about how they would address the threats to those resources. Each of the awards requires an equal match and over SAT’s seven-year life, thousands of volunteers have contributed their time to projects in addition to the $217 million in project monies raised in matching funds. “Save America’s Treasures is preserving treasures of every kind—from places and buildings to the symbols, texts, images and sounds that make up our national identity. The Administration’s leadership is vital to the preservation of this legacy, which belongs to all Americans,” said Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. “This grant program engages numerous local partners who have embraced what is important to them and to future generations by taking on these preservation efforts," said Deputy Secretary of the Interior and Co-Chair for Preserve America Lynn Scarlett. "America's cultural resources embody a rich heritage of human experiences, architectural and intellectual achievements and cultural identities.” The selection of this year’s Save America’s Treasures awards was based on recommendations made by federal preservation professionals in a review process coordinated by the federal cultural agencies (NEA, NEH, and IMLS) and the National Park Service, which administers the program in collaboration with the President’s Committee. By drawing on the preservation expertise and capabilities of its four federal partners, Save America’s Treasures is able to address the vulnerability of this shared cultural and historic heritage in a holistic way. Awards by the National Park Service will help restore both structures and places and those projects overseen by the NEA, NEH and IMLS will help meet the needs of the country’s creative genius expressed in dance, paintings, prints, sculpture, and books; as well as in artifacts from ships, trains, automobiles, pipe organs and many other items of Americana. “One of the pleasures of Save America’s Treasures is that in rescuing and preserving the critical fragments of our past, we re-discover both well-known icons, like this year’s award to the 16th Street Baptist Church, and less-well known treasures, like the Nebraska’ State Historical Society Native American collections. All the awards remind us how rich and varied our culture and history is,” says Adair Wakefield Margo, Chairman of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Recent studies such as A Public Trust at Risk: the Heritage Health Index Report, conducted by Heritage Preservation in partnership with IMLS, have documented the fragility of America’s cultural and historic assets, reporting that “millions of objects are in urgent need of treatment or attention.” For example, almost half of films produced in the U.S. before 1950 have disappeared. Appropriately, a 2006 SAT award to the UCLA Film and Television Archive will help conserve one of the world’s largest newsreel collections, The Hearst Metrotone Newsreel Collection, which documents many of the events of the 20th century.In addition to this irreplaceable film archive, SAT funds will also preserve other examples of the country’s cultural and historic inheritance—such as the colonial home of Colonel James Barrett, a Revolutionary War leader of the Minuteman; hundreds of thousands of objects in the World Trade Center 9/11 collection; and St. Augustine’s Church, a Spanish mission in New Mexico that pre-dates the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. (1613). The breadth and variety of America’s cultural and historical experience are key features of the SAT program in general and this year’s awards reflect that characteristic. “The collections cared for by our nation’s museums and libraries connect people to the full spectrum of human experience— culture, science, history and arts. IMLS recently launched a new initiative called Connecting to Collections, which will make conservation and preservation our highest priority this year. So we are particularly proud to be supporting these great preservation projects with SAT grants.,” says Anne-Imelda Radice, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “The NEH is proud to continue its support of the efforts of archives, universities, historical societies and others through Save America’s Treasures to preserve the intellectual underpinnings of our democracy. We hope this support ensures scholars, writers and the next generation of citizens have access to important records of American history and ideas,” says Bruce Cole, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities. “The NEA congratulates these awardees who have worked tirelessly to preserve and protect the irreplaceable. Our artistic and cultural heritage is part of our national identity. In this 40th anniversary year of the National Historic Preservation Act Save America's Treasures exemplifies the vision of that Act to build our future by preserving our past,” says Dana Gioia, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts. The private sector plays a significant role in the success of Save America’s Treasures. Each award encourages private sector investment through its requirement of a 1:1 match with nonfederal funds. As the SAT’s private-sector partner, Save America’s Treasures at the National Trust for Historic Preservation assists many of these federal SAT grantees and has raised $60 million in matching funds since the program began. In addition to the 42 SAT competitive awards, Congress also designates projects as earmarks for SAT funds at the beginning of the federal fiscal year. For fiscal year 2006 $16.9 million was awarded to 89 projects. Together the competitive grants and Congressional earmarks for Save America’s Treasures amount to a $24.5 million investment in our nation’s most precious cultural and historical treasures. Save America’s Treasures—Preserving the Legacy of Our National Experience, recently published by PCAH, provides the first comprehensive overview of the program’s success. Here the story of America unfolds through various SAT projects from the Wright Brothers to eyewitness accounts of the American Revolution A complete list of awards made by SAT from 1999-2005 is also included. Additional information on the Save America’s Treasures program can be found on the PCAH Web site at www.pcah.gov, the NPS Web site at http://www.cr.nps.gov/hps/treasures/index.htm, or by contacting the NPS at 202-354-2020. ### Media Contacts: David Barna, NPS, 202-208-6843 Kimber Craine, PCAH, 202-682-5661 Paulette Beete, NEA, 202-682-5601 Mamie Bittner 202-653-4757 Elissa Pruett, NEH, 202-606-8439