Asheville Art Museum receives funding to conserve and digitize their Black Mountain College Collection

The Asheville Art Museum has received funding to create the Digital Black Mountain College Collection and Interconnective Timeline that will be freely accessible. Here are the details from AVL Today:

The funds, awarded by the Council on Library and Information Resources, a national nonprofit that works with libraries + institutions to improve resources and access to information, will help the museum create the archive over 24 months. That timeline will –

• Include hundreds of items, like archival documents, artworks, literature, pieces of furniture + more, that have never been seen before by the public
• Feature high-quality, detailed photography of the items in the museum’s collection
• Be all digital – created for scholars, students + the general public
• Be open + free – and accessible around the world

And here's the press release from the Museum:

Asheville Art Museum Receives Prestigious “Save America’s Treasures” Grant

We are thrilled to announce that the Asheville Art Museum has been awarded a Save America’s Treasures grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its partnership with the National Park Service, the National Endowment of the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The award of $196,935 will be used to support the conservation of the Museum’s Black Mountain College Collection. This nationally and internationally significant Collection features historical materials and creative works by students and teachers who attended Black Mountain College (BMC) during its operation from 1933 to 1957.

“Through these competitive matching grants, the National Park Service and our federal, state, tribal, local government, and nonprofit partners are helping communities preserve some of our nation’s most important historic places and collections,” said National Park Service Deputy Director P. Daniel Smith. “By doing so we are saving these sites and stories for future generations.”

ABOUT BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
BMC opened its doors during a politically and economically volatile time in American and European history and became one of the most noteworthy experiments in the history of American art and education. BMC attracted some of the most influential artists of the 20th century including Josef and Anni Albers, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Ruth Asawa, Cy Twombly, Buckminster Fuller, and many more.

ABOUT THE GRANT
The Museum’s goals for this project include:

1) Restoring the physical integrity of endangered BMC materials through conservation

2) Stabilizing and preserve the BMC Collection for future exhibitions and research

3) Increasing public understanding and accessibility through digitization and exhibitions

(image from Wikimedia Commons)