The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently awarded one of its prestigious Preservation Assistance Grants to Daytona State College.

The funding will be used to improve the Southeast Museum of Photography’s (SMP) ability to preserve and care for its collection of photographs.

Grants from the NEH were awarded in 13 different categories. The Preservation Assistance Grant (PAG) is designed to help institutions improve their ability to preserve and care for their humanities collections. The NEH awarded 45 grants in this category to organizations across the country, and only 18 of those were given to colleges and universities.

Complete collection inventories are carried out every three years by museum staff. Items in need of conservation are flagged during this review and categorized according to the urgency of conservation needs. A conservator is called in to assess objects in need of immediate conservation once this has been completed.

The Southeast Museum of Photography currently owns more than 4,700 photographs and 5,000 objects, dating back to early processes from the late 1800s, through a range of contemporary images by prominent photographers working in the field today.