Being a relatively new player in this game, I'm beginning to be appalled at
how easy it is is to misunderstand and be misunderstood.  The magnetic
media preservation program in Hartford, Connecticut, is not an
NEH-sponsored event.  It is co-sponsored by the Connecticut State
Library, NELINET (the New England regional library online catalog
service), and the Connecticut Historical Society as well as NEDCC.  We
normally credit the National Endowment for the Humanities in all public
programs we present because we are very grateful for their funding, which
in part supports our educational efforts and makes it possible to
organize such programs at all.  They do not directly fund this workshop's
costs.
 
There are, in fact, similar programs to the NEDCC field service office in
the Southwest and the Southeast:  the AMIGOS preservation program, 12200
Park Central Dive, Suite 500, Dallas, Texas 75251 (1-800-843-8482) and
the SOLINET preservation program, 1438 W. Peachtree Street NW, Suite 200,
Atlanta, GA 30309-2955 (1-800-999-8558).  Both organize and present excellent
educational programs in their own areas.  There is also a loose network of
statewide preservation programs, which are active in many states.  Many
sponsor similar programs.  Contact your state library or state archives for
information.  Most of these formal regional programs primarily target the
library community, secondarily the archives community (that is, mostly book
and paper/documentary collections, with increasing attention to magnetic
media and electronic imaging).  Museums are welcome to participate in
all workshops of interest; fees vary.  The only similar program I'm
aware of in the museum world is the remarkable Field Advisory Service of
the Oklahoma Historical Society, 2100 North Lincoln Street, Oklahoma
City, OK 73105 (405-521-2491).  At the risk of offending, regional
conservation centers are beginning to organize workshops on preventive
conservation for museum collections, and can also be contacted.
 
Karen Motylewski
Director of Field Service
Northeast Document Conservation Center
100 Brickstone Square
Andover, MA 01810
(508) 470-1010
FAX (508) 475-6021
 
On Thu, 1 Sep 1994, NOEL STOWE wrote:
 
> Well, I have been through this discussion and we in the SW don't want this
> because distance is a big problem. Apparently the NE one works very well
> because everyone is so very close. this was a source of great irritation
> between me and NEH when I wanted the program officer out and he suggested we
> ought to do this because we were all so close by one another. David Hoober
> sees red over this idea since it is regarded as a proposal that will only work
> in some geog areas. I have decided to stay out of this discussion and to tell
> NEH to bug off. This was a very unpleasant discussion with NEH and with the
> David types. NEH officers only want to go to centers like that and only in the
> NE and SE will this model work. We have to fly in and out and they drive.It
> was a most unillumined discussion!
> -- NOEL    (5-7279)
>