2004 Federal Save America's Treasures Grants

Grants are being awarded to 60 projects in 24 states and the District of Columbia. By law, each award requires a dollar-for-dollar non-Federal match. States, localities, corporations, foundations, and individuals who value America’s heritage have pledged support for these important projects through financial contributions and in-kind services.

Grants marked with asterisks (***) are administered by the National Endowment of the Arts.

Arizona

Mission San Xavier del Bac, Patronato San Xavier, Tucson
Award: $250,000
Constructed between 1783 and 1797, this National Historic Landmark is one of the finest Spanish Colonial churches in the United States. A 1950s coating of cement plaster damaged the original masonry. This grant will be used to repair that damage on the west tower and to return it to its traditional lime plaster finish.

California

Locke Historic Boarding House, Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, Locke
Award: $450,000
Founded in 1915, Locke is the largest and most intact surviving example of an historic rural Chinese-American community in the United States. Funds will be used to address the most serious preservation issues in this frame building, which is a pivotal structure in the National Historic Landmark community.

Thomas Hansford Williams House, Gold Discovery Park Association, Coloma
Award: $200,000
Gold was discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in the town of Coloma, a National Historic Landmark. The grant will be used to stabilize the severely deteriorated Williams House in order to prepare for its restoration and opening to the public.

Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection, Autry National Center of the American West, Los Angeles
Award: $450,000
The 225,000 ethnographic and archeological artifacts in this collection exemplify the history and cultures of America’s indigenous peoples. Funds will support conservation treatments and appropriate rehousing for the most fragile artifacts in the collection.

R. Buckminster Fuller Recordings, Stanford University, Stanford
Award: $128,000
This grant will support the creation of preservation master copies of audio and video recordings from the personal archives of this noted 20th-century engineer, inventor, philosopher, and teacher.

Connecticut

Joseph Webb House, Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, Wethersfield
Award: $150,000
This National Historic Landmark dates to 1752 and served as George Washington’s headquarters when he met with Comte de Rochambeau to plan the campaign that ended with the British defeat at Yorktown. Funds will be used to repair damage caused by the inadequate framing of the structure during its original construction.

Litchfield Meetinghouse, First Congregational Church of Litchfield, Litchfield
Award: $200,000
Completed in 1829, the meetinghouse anchors the Litchfield National Historic Landmark District, a fine example of a late 18th-century New England town. Structural deterioration in the roof trusses, beams, and ties has caused damage to the interior plaster. This grant will support roof reinforcement and plaster restoration.

Cheney Brothers Machine Shop, Manchester Historical Society, Manchester
Award: $200,000
The Cheney brothers invented machines and tools that made them a dominant force in the textile industry. The machine shop is a contributing building in this excellently preserved example of a 19th- and early 20th-century mill town, which is now a National Historic Landmark District. Funds will be used to replace the deteriorated roof.

District of Columbia

Mary Church Terrell Home, Howard University, Washington, DC
Award: $260,000
An educator and civil rights leader, Mrs. Terrell was the first African American woman to serve on an American school board and the founding president of the National Association of Colored Women. Her home is a National Historic Landmark, and this grant will be used to stabilize it in preparation for a complete restoration.

Florida

Ximenez-Fatio House, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Florida, St. Augustine
Award: $200,000
This Spanish Colonial house, circa 1798, is a contributing building in the St. Augustine Town Plan National Historic Landmark District. Several hurricanes in the last decade, as well as previous inappropriate repairs, have damaged the building’s exterior materials, and funds will be used to address this damage.

Georgia

Andrew Low House, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Georgia, Savannah
Award: $250,000
Juliette Gordon Low lived in this house, constructed by her father-in-law in 1848, at the time she founded the Girl Scouts of America. Funds will be used to install roof anchor straps for hurricane protection and to repair damaged stucco on the house, which contributes to the Savannah National Historic Landmark District.

***Peabody Awards Collection, University of Georgia, Athens
Award: $300,000
The collection holds over 40,000 titles of news, documentary, entertainment, educational, children’s, and public service radio and television programming, dating from the 1940s to the present. Many are the only surviving copies of the work. Funds will be used to migrate programs on deteriorating videotapes to a stable digital format.

Illinois

Carl Sandburg Collection, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana
Award: $239,000
This collection includes the author’s personal library, as well as his manuscripts, letters, and photographs. Funds will support conservation treatments and appropriate archival storage for the variety of materials in the collection.

Iowa

Amana Mill Race, Amana Colonies Historical Sites Foundation, Amana
Award: $295,000
The six-mile-long mill race, which provided water power to the Amana Colonies textile mills, is a defining element in the landscape of the National Historic Landmark communities. This grant will support restoration of the channel’s levee walls, which sustained severe flood damage in 1993.

Dubuque Shot Tower, City of Dubuque, Dubuque
Award: $295,000
Constructed in 1856 to manufacture lead shot ammunition, the tower is the only surviving mid-19th-century example of its type. Funds will be used to address structural problems and correct damage created by previous inappropriate repair work.

Steamboat William M. Black, National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, Dubuque
Award: $255,637
Launched in 1934, this National Historic Landmark vessel worked the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers as part of the nation’s efforts to improve navigation on inland waterways. This grant will be used to repair corrosion, leaks, and dry rot that threaten the vessel’s stability.

Maine

Kennebec Arsenal, State of Maine, Bureau of General Services, Augusta
Award: $295,000
This National Historic Landmark is the most intact early 19th-century munitions depot in the United States. The grant will be used to repair the deteriorated granite retaining wall that stabilizes the site’s Kennebec River boundary and restore damage to the cast iron and granite fence surrounding the rest of the 41-acre site.

Massachusetts

Carey Building, New England Hospital for Women & Children, Dimock Community Health Center, Roxbury
Award: $200,000
Female doctors established a teaching hospital in 1862 to offer medical care for women and among the first to provide training for female doctors and nurses. The 1872 Carey Building is the oldest remaining in the National Historic Landmark complex. Grant funds will be used to address water-related deterioration on the exterior of the frame building.

Central Tower Interior, Trinity Church, The Trinity Boston Foundation, Boston
Award: $450,000
Built in 1877, this National Historic Landmark was the first major work of architect H. H. Richardson. Its decorative paintings and murals by John La Farge launched the art of large-scale mural decoration in American public buildings. Funds will be used to clean and stabilize La Farge’s work in the church’s central tower.

Gibson House Museum, Gibson Society, Boston
Award: $250,000
This National Historic Landmark rowhouse is a time capsule of middle-class American life in one family from 1859 until the 1950s. Its original electrical, plumbing, and heating systems are intact and in use, but present significant risks due to age and deterioration. Grant funds will be used to provide modern mechanical systems while the originals are retained for interpretive purposes.

Gore Place, Gore Place Society, Waltham
Award: $250,000
A National Historic Landmark, this Federal period mansion was the home of American statesman Christopher Gore. Funds will be used to replace the failed gutters and downspouts and to install a fire suppression system.

USS Massachusetts (BB59), USS Massachusetts Memorial Committee, Fall River
Award: $360,000
This National Historic Landmark battleship served as the Allied flagship for General George Patton’s 1942 invasion of North Africa. Funds will be used to restore the ship’s deteriorated deck.

***Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Award: $350,000
Opened to the public in 1903, the museum represents Mrs. Gardner’s highly personal collecting style, with objects and paintings spanning thirty centuries and many cultures. This grant will support replacement of the outdated electrical system and light fixtures that create broad-spectrum emissions that can damage artwork.

History of the Book in American Culture Collection, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester
Award: $100,000
The manuscripts, broadsides, and library and trade catalogs in this collection illustrate American reading habits and the related trades and businesses that supported the spread of books in the United States. Funds will support the conservation, rebinding, and rehousing of the collection.

Michigan

Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, City of Detroit Recreation Department, Detroit
Award: $340,000
Funds will be used to restore the deteriorated central dome of the 1904 conservatory, one of the key components of the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Belle Isle Park.

Goldenrod, The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn
Award: $87,000
This car broke the world land speed record at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in 1965 and held the record until 1991. Built by two brothers from Southern California without concern for long-term preservation, the car suffers serious salt contamination and galvanic corrosion. Funds will be used to restore the car for museum display.

Mississippi

Beauvoir, Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Biloxi
Award: $300,000
This National Historic Landmark was the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the last twelve years of his life. Funds will be used to repair water damage to exterior features and to replace malfunctioning climate control and fire suppression systems.

New Jersey

Revolutionary War Documents, New Jersey Division of Archives & Records Management, Trenton
Award: $347,000
These manuscripts include officer commissions, Loyalist papers, eyewitness accounts of battles, and orders to raise troops and requisition supplies for Washington’s army. Funds will support conservation treatments and archival housing for these fragile documents.

New Mexico

Palace of the Governors Collections, Museum of New Mexico Foundation, Santa Fe
Award: $358,000
The National Historic Landmark palace served as both residence and office for New Mexico’s governors from 1610 until 1909. Funds will support conservation of severely deteriorated items from the palace’s 15,000-item furniture, paper, object, and textile collections.

Picuris Old Village, Picuris Pueblo, Penasco
Award: $295,000
Picuris tribal members constructed these adobe buildings 800–1,000 years ago for use as centers of worship, community meeting places, and family homes. They have deteriorated to the point that they are no longer safe to occupy. The grant will be used to restore the buildings for continued community use.

New York

Camp Santanoni, Adirondack Architectural Heritage, Newcomb
Award: $365,000
Constructed in 1892–1893, the National Historic Landmark camp is an early and outstanding example of the Adirondack “Great Camp.” This grant will be used to correct widespread exterior deterioration, structural problems, and safety hazards throughout the site.

Erie Canal Aqueduct at Schoharie Creek, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Fort Hunter
Award: $365,000
A National Historic Landmark, the Erie Canal created the first effective means of interstate commerce between the Atlantic coast states and the Midwest. The Schoharie Creek aqueduct is one of the canal’s most significant engineering marvels. Funds will be used to stabilize the remaining six arches of the aqueduct.

The 9/11 Collection, The New York City Police Museum, New York
Award: $100,000
The collection includes objects from Ground Zero, materials used in recovery efforts, audio and video interviews, photographs, and ephemera related to the events of September 11, 2001. This grant will provide conservation treatments and appropriate housing for the wide variety of objects in the collection.

Bellevue Wall of Prayer, Museum of the City of New York, New York
Award: $135,000
Families and friends of victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks created the wall by posting images of the missing as they searched for their loved ones in the chaotic days following the attacks. Funds will be used to conserve the wall.

***Archives of The Martha Graham Dance Company, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and Mark Morris Dance Group, Dance Heritage Coalition, New York and Brooklyn
Award: $52,625
Legacies of three of the most influential 20th-century choreographers, these archives contain photographs, negatives, programs, reviews, costumes, and videotapes. The grant will support conservation treatments and appropriate storage for the materials and creation of preservation master copies of the videotapes.

***Records of America's Dance Boom, The New York Public Library, New York
Award: $275,000
These recordings documenting the work of major artists ranging from the Joffrey Ballet to the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the American Ballet Theatre are on deteriorating videotape. Funds will be used to conserve over 2,600 original recordings and create preservation master copies in a more stable medium.

***Television Collection, The Museum of Television & Radio, New York
Award: $300,000
The museum preserves America’s television history, more than 50 percent of which has been lost or is in danger of being lost in the next decade. Funds will be used to conserve videotapes of over 1,750 hours of public affairs, arts, entertainment, and sports programming from 1948 through 1981 and to create preservation master copies in a more stable medium.

***92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center Audio Archive, Young Men's & Young Women's Hebrew Association, New York
Award: $200,000
The archive is a rich record of writers reading from and discussing their work in every literary genre. Recorded at over 1,500 events between 1949 and 2003, it includes renowned fiction writers, United States Poets Laureate, playwrights, biographers, and scholars. This grant will support the creation of preservation master copies of the original analog recordings and appropriate archival storage for the originals.

***Meserve-Kunhardt Collection, Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation, Chappaqua
Award: $325,000
Pioneering photography collector Frederick Meserve amassed this 200,000-item collection of paper prints, glass negatives, daguerreotypes, and ambrotypes chronicling 19th- and early-20th-century America. The collection is an essential tool for Lincoln scholarship and for studying American cities and social movements. Funds will be used to consolidate the collection in one secure location and to begin a comprehensive conservation program.

Revolutionary War Collection, New York State Archives and State Library, Albany
Award: $82,000
Funds will be used to conserve and rehouse correspondence from George Washington, important Revolutionary War maps, and papers captured from the British spy Major John André that proved Benedict Arnold had betrayed the American cause.

***"Buffalo Bill" Billboard, Reg Lenna Civic Center, Jamestown
Award: $52,000
This 1878 billboard advertising William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s touring show was revealed by the collapse of another building. It is among the earliest known graphic representations of Buffalo Bill. The grant will support conservation of this 260-square-foot artifact.

North Carolina

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum Collection, Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, Hatteras
Award: $275,000
For centuries, ships have foundered on the dangerous shoals of Cape Hatteras, giving rise to its being called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” The collection is comprised of a wide variety of objects drawn from this treasure trove of Atlantic maritime heritage, including maps, lifesaving station log books, ship models, uniforms, and shipwreck artifacts. Funds will be used to install a climate control system to protect this diverse collection.

Ohio

Fort Ancient Earthworks, Ohio Historical Society, Oregonia
Award: $255,000
This National Historic Landmark is the largest prehistoric Indian hilltop enclosure in North America. The Hopewell and Fort Ancient peoples occupied the site circa 300 B.C.–1600 A.D. Funds will be used to repair failing drainage systems and to address erosion damage to the fragile site.

Pennsylvania

Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Mother Bethel Foundation, Philadelphia
Award: $450,000
This National Historic Landmark is the mother church of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded by former slave Richard Allen. The 1889 granite-faced building is the fourth church on this site. The grant will be used to address structural problems in the monumental bell tower and to repair the slate roof.

The Woodlands, The Woodlands, Philadelphia
Award: $200,000
Home of the Hamilton family, this 1788 National Historic Landmark is an early example of the Adamesque style in America. The grant will be used to replace the deteriorated roof and to address structural problems.

***Louis I. Kahn Collection, The Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Award: $70,000
Funds will be used to conserve and rehouse the sketchbooks, personal drawings, and construction drawings in this collection, which documents the artistic vision of this influential 20th-century architect.

***Louise Nevelson’s Atmosphere and Environment XII, Fairmount Park Art Association, Philadelphia
Award: $100,000
Created in 1970 by one of the most important 20th-century American artists, this monumental sculpture was a pioneering use of Cor-Ten (weathering steel), an industrial material that subsequently had a great impact on the field of public art. This grant will support a comprehensive conservation treatment to address severe corrosion damage.

Early 20th-Century Manuscripts, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia
Award: $164,000
Funds will be used to implement a conservation program for fourteen collections of manuscripts including the nation’s premier collection documenting Native American languages, the papers of Nobel Laureate Peyton Rous, and the papers of pioneer researchers in the fields of genetics and biochemistry.

Microfilmed Land Records, City of Philadelphia Department of Records, Philadelphia
Award: $51,000
This collection is a record of every real property transfer in the city from 1683 through 1940. It is an invaluable tool in a wide variety of scholarly research on social and cultural history and geography. The microfilm has deteriorated with age. Funds will be used to transfer the collection to a more stable medium.

Rhode Island

Chateau-sur-Mer, The Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport
Award: $250,000
This Second Empire-style mansion is a contributing building in the Bellevue Avenue National Historic Landmark District. The grant will support replacement of a deteriorated roof that threatens the building and its elaborate interior spaces.

The Providence Athenaeum, The Providence Athenaeum, Providence
Award: $260,000
This National Historic Landmark is the only New England building designed by noted American architect William Strickland, who helped shape American architecture in the early 19th-century. Funds will be used to address major structural deficiencies in the periodical and rare book stacks.

South Carolina

Aiken-Rhett House, Historic Charleston Foundation, Charleston
Award: $225,000
A contributing property in the Charleston National Historic Landmark District, this Greek Revival residence is supported by a remarkable array of historic service buildings and slave quarters. This grant will support exterior weather-proofing, including application of a lime wash finish to the stucco and restoration of windows and doors.

Dock Street Theatre, City of Charleston Department of Parks, Charleston
Award: $295,000
The theatre is comprised of seven buildings, which range from the 1809 Planters’ Hotel to the stage and auditorium constructed during a WPA restoration in the 1930s. Funds will support structural reinforcements and roof tie downs to protect the structure against seismic and hurricane damage.

Tennessee

Rosenwald Negro Rural Schools Photograph Collection, Fisk University, Nashville
Award: $65,000
Between 1912 and 1932, philanthropist Julius Rosenwald constructed nearly 5,000 schools for African American children across the south. Funds will be used to conserve and provide archival storage for this collection, which documents the schools and the communities in which they were constructed.

Texas

Post Hospital, Fort Davis National Historic Site, Fort Davis
Award: $200,000
This frontier fort was established in 1854 to guard the road from San Antonio to El Paso, which was part of the southern overland emigrants’ route to California. One of the most intact western forts, it is a National Historic Landmark and a unit of the National Park system. The grant will be used to repair the deteriorated adobe post hospital.

***Hogg Family Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Award: $200,000
The prominent Hogg family began collecting both the work of Southwestern Native Americans and the work of American artist Frederic Remington in the 1920s. The Native American works span many tribes, and the Remington pieces are some of the artist’s strongest work. Grant funds will be used to conserve the wide variety of items in this collection.

Virginia

Adam Thoroughgood House, City of Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach
Award: $150,000
Constructed on the 1635 land patent of the founding settler of the Virginia Beach area, this post-medieval style brick house is one of the oldest in Virginia and a National Historic Landmark. Grants funds will be used to repair moisture damage to the exterior.

Woodrow Wilson Birthplace, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation, Staunton
Award: $200,000
This Greek Revival house served as the manse of the local Presbyterian Church where Wilson’s father was the pastor. The grant will be used to address moisture-related damage to the masonry and foundation of the building, which is a National Historic Landmark.

Washington

Jefferson County Courthouse, Jefferson County Department of Public Works, Port Townsend
Award: $360,000
The Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse, constructed in 1892, is the architectural centerpiece of the Port Townsend National Historic Landmark District. Funds will be used to restore the masonry of the building’s imposing clock tower and to address damage caused by previous inappropriate preservation treatments.

Wisconsin

Milwaukee Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee Turner Ballroom Trust, Milwaukee
Award: $385,000
The term “Turner” derives from the German Turnverein, a gymnastic association that emphasized harmonious development of mind and body. German immigrants brought the movement to America, and this National Historic Landmark was the headquarters of the national Turner organization. Funds will be used to install a fire protection system and upgrade other obsolete systems.

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