Sam Houston Center Improves Storage Conditions with Federal Funding

Tuesday, January 21, 2014 • Austin, TX • News Release

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, part of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, is the recipient of a second National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Preservation Assistance Grant. The Center received a $6,000 NEH grant in 2013 to conduct the Center’s first general preservation assessment. The goals developed from the assessment are leading to continued grant funding and a variety of improvements at the Center.

A second $6,000 NEH grant is expanding environmental monitoring to all records storage areas through the purchase of Preservation Environment Monitors, preventing ultraviolet and visible light damage by installing sun control film on windows, and protecting collections from water incursion through the use of audible alarm water detectors. 

Other improvements being made at the Center as a result of findings from the NEH-funded preservation assessment include installing mobile storage units for framed art and oversized and rolled items, creating a quarantine room to inspect incoming collections for mold, pests and other threats, and upgrading fire suppression and detection systems.

The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, which is located in Liberty just east of Houston, preserves and makes available historic records and artifacts from ten counties in Southeast Texas. The Center houses over 12,000 cubic feet of local government records, manuscripts, fine art and photographs, newspapers, blueprints and maps, books, audio-visual materials, and three-dimensional artifacts. For more information on the Center’s collections, please call (936) 336-8821 or visit www.tsl.texas.gov/shc/index.html.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities

The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research, education, preservation and public programs in the humanities by funding top-rated competitive, peer-reviewed proposals examined by panels of independent, external reviewers. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this release do not necessarily represent those of the NEH.