Katie-- The question is not "who gives grants to acquire new artifacts," but rather "who do we build out collections based on our mission, programs, current holding and goals." Or to put it more simply--what do you hope to do in the future and why? The only detail you offer is that you are a historic house museum. Given that, what you may want to collect and exhibit may vary greatly depending on your geographic location and time period of emphases--unless you are using your site as a catalyst for change to promote community discussions of contemporary issues. Based on my personal experience as a both a grant recipient of and reviewer for NEH, with state humanities councils and a variety of community and family foundations, you need to integrate collections development and expansion as a component of a larger project to document and exhibit "x" or "y," or to preserve the last remaining "z" as an example of some regionally or community based significant event tied to where you museum is located. When I worked on the coast of Maine for a maritime museum I could and did argue that it was important to document, acquire, exhibit and preserve significant works of art produced by the daughters of sea captains because of what those objects (hand work to formal portraitures) of material culture could tells as of both the self-taught artists and their time. Or in Colorado I would argue that it was important for a town historical society on the Western Slope to collect modern ski industry related materials due to rapid changes within that "field" and the impact skiing has had on former ways of life. That said, my advise for you is to look at the opportunity you are creating for yourself with your new building and ask yourself - "What exhibits can I mount over the next 5 years that highlight the importance of my site (in all its various ways) that would allow me to conduct new originally historical and cultural research that would drive my exhibition program and which would then help me to identify what I should add to my collections?" But "How do I do that?" - Again based on my experience, go talk to your state humanities council and get them: 1. To identify scholars in a variety of disciplines in your state who may be interested in your site. 2. See if the council will help introduce you to a few of these academics. 3. Seek a small planing grant (Less than $1,000--that make it easier to get) from the Council to convene a planning meeting with your scholars to coalesce them into a new advisory committee and to get their help in brain storming what research and exhibits might be possible (or even redirect their own research interests). 4. Get further "buy in" from the state humanities or arts councils by seeking an exhibit planning grant to move the conversation with you new scholar advisers further and to get your first exhibit up. With this base established- other donors, foundations and even NEH or NEA would be interested in funding exhibits and the need to acquire new objects for the collections. Using this method, I generated over $500,000 dollars for collections and exhibition in 6 or 7 years and mounted a 3 to 4 new shows/ year. I started from a worse place than you with an institutional self study that said to our museum, "change or die." I have shared this method with colleagues in at Maine Archives and Museum, the New England Museum Associations and at an AAM conference. If you or anyone else on the list has a question, give me a call, I'll be happy to share my expereince. Sam ------- Sam Shogren Shogren Consulting 15410 NW Oak Hills Drive Beaverton, OR 97006 503-504-0770 On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 12:59 PM, kathryn Tate <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Hi > > I work at a historic house museum that is in the process of building a new > visitors center this year. We are looking to expand our museum's > collections and once the building is complete, the will be proper exhibit > space. > > I was wondering if anyone know of a grant that funds acquisition of new > artifacts for up and coming exhibits? I have thought about looking at the > Amer. Assoc of Museums, National Humanities Council or Museum and Library > Services. Does any one have any other suggestions? > > Anything would be appreciated. > > Thank you > > Katie Tate > > ------------------------------ > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs>========================================================= Important > Subscriber Information: > > The Museum-L FAQ file is located at > http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed > information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message > to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read > "help" (without the quotes). > > If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to > [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read > "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). > -- Sam Shogren Shogren Consulting 15410 NW Oak Hills Drive Beaverton, OR 97006 503-504-0770 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).