National Park Service and Partner Agencies Award $25.7 Million to Preserve Significant Historic Sites and Collections

The National Park Service (NPS) today announced $25.7 million in Save America’s Treasures grants to fund 59 projects that will preserve nationally significant sites and historic collections in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

“The Save America’s Treasures program began 25 years ago and continues to enable communities across the United States to preserve and conserve their nationally significant historic properties and collections,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “It’s fitting to celebrate this milestone anniversary through a wide range of projects that help to pass the full history of America and its people down to future generations.”

Since 1999, the Save America’s Treasures program has provided over $405 million from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) to more than 1,400 projects to provide preservation and conservation work on nationally significant collections, artifacts, structures, and sites. Previous awards have gone toward restoring the Park Inn Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright; the USS Intrepid, an Essex class carrier on display in Manhattan; and the Saturn V Launch Vehicle, a three-stage rocket designed for a lunar landing mission.

Today’s award of $25,705,000 will be matched by almost $50 million in private and public investment. NPS partners with the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services to award the grants.

Established in 1977, the HPF has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and non-profit organizations. Administered by NPS, HPF grant funds are appropriated by Congress annually to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural and historic resources.

The HPF, which uses revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases, supports a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars. The intent behind the HPF is to mitigate the loss of nonrenewable resources through the preservation of other irreplaceable resources.

Applications for next year’s round of the Save America's Treasures Grant Program will open in the fall of 2024. $25.5 million in funding will be available.   

Examples of today’s awarded grants include: 

• Historic Hudson Valley will use grant funding to address water penetration and deteriorating masonry at the historic Ivy Cottage located at Sunnyside, the New York home of early American author Washington Irving. Irving lived at Sunnyside from 1835 until his death in 1859. As an author, Irving helped to build a truly American literary landscape; as a property, Sunnyside became one of the physical landmarks of the American Romantic movement. The grantee will provide $640,365 of matching funds.
• The Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation will digitize 2,000 videotapes from their archival collections which document the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building, the largest domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil. This digitization will update the outdated formats the collection currently consists of and will provide video stabilization work. The grantee will provide $89,428 in matching funds.
• Michigan Technological University will digitize and organize historic copper mining records. While mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula began at least 8,000 years ago, improved excavating technology and increased demand for copper wire in the 1800s drove thousands to northern Michigan to work in the mines. Improved access to mining records will make historic data from the late 1800s and early 1900s accessible to the public. The grantee will provide $118,898 in matching funds.

For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit nps.gov/stlpg.