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1997 Community Heritage Grants Program



Response to Campaign

The vigorous promotional campaign for the 1997 Community Heritage Grants program was very successful, drawing media as well as community interest. The Grants were advertised in a wide range of relevant publications and newsletters. Many community organisations agreed to carry advertisements for the program in their publications free-of-charge.

Approximately 10,000 brochures announcing the 1997 Community Heritage Grants were distributed to key community groups, including historical societies, to all Australian public library services, and ethnic, multicultural and indigenous groups. Considerable interest was generated following a media release which resulted in several requests for radio interviews.

Approximately 900 requests for Guidelines and Application Forms were received and by 1 August, when applications closed, 194 applications had been received. Grant requests totalled almost $696,000. Late applications were not considered. Of the applications received, 104 were assessed to be either of 'national significance' or of 'high national significance' and, ideally, worthy of funding.

Type of Organisation       1994             1995         1996      1997
School library              -                 1            2         1
Public library              52               22           16        14
University library           4                3            5         3
Other library               17                -            -         -
Archive                     24                8           16        14
Genealogical society   combined with 
                       historical societies  10            4         4
Historical society          80               49           59        40
Museum                      43               31           30        41
Art gallery                 -                 1            2         0
Professional association    -                 2            5         3
Community group             -                31           31        32
Religious group             -                 6            8         9
Indigenous group            -                 -            -         5
Multicultural/ethnic group  -                 -            -         7
Other                       -                28           26        19

(Dashes indicated categories not used for classifying data in this particular year. Note: some applicants ticked more than one type of organisation.)

Applicants were asked to choose a maximum of five keywords to identify the type of project proposed for a Community Heritage Grant. The table below summarises the number of times each keyword was selected in 1995, 1996 and 1997 applications. Applicants added the keywords marked with an asterisk.

Keyword indicating type of project         Frequency selected
                                      1995       1996       1997
Architectural plans                     5          9          7
Archival records                       11        114        108
Audiotape transcription                 -          -          2
Binding                                21         10          9
Books                                  31         32         37
Cataloguing, indexing                  62         80         65
Conservation - equipment                7         14         14
Conservation - materials               58         67         69
Conservation - treatment               38         46         48
Encapsulation                          11         12         11
Environmental control                  16         12         13
Magnetic media                          7          3          8
Manuscripts                            33         29         22
Maps                                   13         15         18
Microfiche reader                       -          -          1
Movie film                              3          4          5
Newspapers                             23         *1          3
Optical media                           2          1
Photographic negatives                 27         30         30
Photographic prints                    68         73         91
Planning and screening                 14         23         21
Prints, drawings                       13         11         10
Reformat - by photography              16         24         23
Reformat - digitising                  10         18         27
Reformat - microform                   33         19         23
Reformat - photocopy                   19         22          4
Reformat - recording sound material     6          6          8
Reformat - video                       *1         *1
Storage - equipment                    15         27         20
Storage - materials                    72         81         68
Textile preservation                   *1         *1          1
Training                               24         20         20

Additional keywords chosen by 1997 applicants were:Computer retrieval (1), Consultant advice (1), Cultural exchange (1); Record centralisation (1); Arrangement and description (1) and Repairs (1).

The following table gives the distribution of 1997 applications from around Australia:

  State                  Number of Applications	
  ACT		                      11	
  NSW	                              47	
  NT		                       3	
  QLD		                      23	
  SA		                      31	
  TAS		                       9	
  VIC		                      55	
  WA		                      15

Almost all applicants were willing to allow information about their collections to be made publicly available through the National Library.

Funding

For this year's Community Heritage Grants, the Department of Communications and the Arts has contributed $40,000 through its Distributed National Collection program. Ansett Australia (ACT) provided up to a 50% discount on air travel for all of the grants recipients to attend the awards ceremony and workshop in Canberra. Kodak Professional has provided photographic materials to grant recipients at a reduced cost. Satchels and samples for grant recipients have been provided by Albox Australia and Conservation Resources International respectively.

The National Library has contributed $30,000 in grant money, accommodation costs and 50% travel expenses for recipients, assessors' fees, awards ceremony expenses and salary expenses for administrative assistance.

Administration

Letters of acknowledgement were sent to all applicants in August and letters of outcome were sent to all applicants in September.

Successful applicants were required to sign a Deed of Grant agreement. Upon completion of the project, successful applicants will be required to complete a Project Report form.

As in 1996, all recipients will be contacted during the course of their projects to identify any difficulties and assist in rectifying them as quickly as possible.

Assessment

Assessment in 1997 has proceeded in an identical manner to 1996, ie, it has comprised four phases:

*The subcommittee comprised:

Awards Ceremony and Workshop

The successful applicants for 1997 Community Heritage Grants were presented with their awards by Senator the Hon Margaret Reid, President of the Senate, at a ceremony at the National Library on 8 October, 1997.

The awards ceremony was followed by a tour of the National Library, lunch in the Library's restaurant, the Southbank Brasserie and, in the afternoon, a workshop on basic preservation techniques which was conducted by Wendy Smith of the National Library.

Kits containing information about preservation and conservation suppliers and samples were distributed to all grant recipients. Satchels for the kits were kindly donated by Albox Australia and conservation materials sample kits were donated by Conservation Resources International (Australia).

Recipients of 1997 Community Heritage Grants

A complete list of projects funded with 1997 Community Heritage Grants follows:

NAME OF ORGANISATION         PROJECT NOTES                         STATE

Footscray Historical         Digitisation of the Footscray          VIC      
Society                      Historical Society's historical                 

City of Maribyrnong Library  photograph collection                           
Service                                                                      

National Trust of Australia  Storage of photographic prints of      NSW      
(NSW)                        National Trust properties in NSW                

School of History and        Transfer of photographs and negatives  QLD      
Politics at James Cook       of the North Queensland Collection to           
University of North          special archival holders                        
Queensland                                                                   

Barnardos Australia          Preservation of Barnardos Australia's  NSW      
                             archive                                         

Melbourne Hebrew             Preservation of the Melbourne Hebrew   VIC      
Congregation                 Congregation Historical Archives                

Newcastle Region Library     Digitising of the Newcastle Region     NSW      
                             Library's Various Collection                    

The Spastic Centre of New    Preservation of the Founders'          NSW      
South Wales                  Collection of The Spastic Centre of             
                             New South Wales Archives                        

Ngarinyin Aboriginal         Digitisation of the Ngarinyin          WA       
Corporation                  Community heritage photographic                 
                             collection                                      

Brennan & Geraghty's Store   Reformatting of part of the Brennan &  QLD      
Museum                       Geraghty's Store Museum document                
                             collection onto compact disc and                
                             updating the computer index to record           
                             the image identification number                 

Kumarangk Coaltition/        Preservation of the Hindmarsh Island   SA       
Friends of Goolwa and        Bridge collection                               
Kumarangk Inc.                                                               

Northcott Society            Preservation of the archival           NSW      
                             collection of the Northcott Society             

Diocese of                   Preservation survey and the            NSW      
Maitland-Newcastle           development of a preservation                   
                             management plan for the archive                 
                             records of the Diocese of                       
                             Maitland-Newcastle                              

Cooperative for Aborigines   Preservation survey and the            NSW      
Ltd (Tranby)                 development of a preservation                   
                             management plan for documentary                 
                             collection of the Cooperative for               
                             Aborigines Ltd (Tranby)                         

Royal Western Australian     Reformatting by photography of the     WA       
Historical Society           Royal Western Australian Historical             
                             Society's pictorial collection                  

Royal Historical Society of  Preventive conservation of the Royal   VIC      
Victoria                     Historical Society of Victoria's                
                             image collection                                

VSDC - Services for Deaf     Microfilming of the minute books of    VIC      
Children                     the VSDC Inc. (1860-present)                    

Furneaux Historical          Preservation of the collection of the  Fl. Is.  
Research Association Inc     Furneaux Historical Research                    
                             Association Inc                                 

St Marks National            Collection storage boxes and           ACT      
Theological Centre           acid-free expansion folders                     

Salvation Army Heritage      Preservation of the collection of the  VIC      
Centre                       Salvation Army Heritage Centre                  

Maritime Museum of           Preservation survey and the            QLD      
Townsville                   development of a preservation                   
                             management plan for the photographic            
                             collection of the Maritime Museum of            
                             Townsville                                      

Royal District Nursing       Preservation of the photographic       VIC      
Service                      collection of the Royal District                
                             Nursing Service                                 

Ernabella Arts Inc.          Upgrading of storage facilities for    SA       
                             the Ernabella Arts archival                     
                             collection                                      

Brief details of projects funded by Community Heritage Grants in previous years are also available:


Return to the Community Heritage Grants Program

Last updated 2 December 1997

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