AMA Foundation Receives Grant For National Model Aviation Museum

The Save America's Treasures grant program was established in 1998 to celebrate America's premier cultural resources in the new millennium. After more than 20 years, this grant program has awarded more than 1,300 grants totaling more than $300 million to projects across the United States. Funded projects, selected from 4,000+ applications requesting $1.5 billion, represent nationally significant historic properties and collections that convey our nation's rich heritage for future generations. The National Park Service administers Save America's Treasure grants in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

The AMA Foundation is happy to announce that we have been awarded a Save America's Treasures Grant in the amount of $66,000! For more than 40 years, the National Model Aviation Museum has collected, preserved, interpreted, and displayed model aviation's remarkable contributions and unique stories it has brought from around the world.

The National Model Aviation Museum's project aligns directly with the Save America's Treasure program goal of "Collections Stewardship and Access" and the supporting objectives. The project is also supported by the National Model Aviation Museum's five-year-strategic plan.

The National Model Aviation Museum's strategic plan identified a shortfall in a large segment of the museum's documents, photos, and negatives collection. The Save America's Treasures grant will help the NMAM achieve the strategic goals by enhancing community and student outreach, engaging with strategic partners, communicating the collection's historical significance, protecting and preserving the physical and media collection, improving library delivery services, and creating maximum impact on the model aeronautic community. The strategic plan created the framework which will guide and advance the activities of the project by specifically meeting several of the identified goals and objectives outlined in the plan.

1. Provide for the staffing position of a collections manager. This is the priority of the proposed plan in that this role must be filled to accomplish the project.
2. Preserve the collection from environmental deterioration.
3. Catalog and digitize the collection.
4. Make all of the collection deliverable nationwide to our members, schools, the community, our stakeholders and partners, etc.

The foremost result of the project is to develop this collection of historically rich and significant media into a readily accessible medium through the community and to strengthen the museum's stewardship of the archival collection as outlined in the museum's strategic plan.

The following outcomes will be realized from the completion of the project:

1. Brings the collection to nationally accepted professional museum standards of care and management.
2. Provide educational services to formal education groups in order to maximize the academic potential of the museum's collection.
3. Updates the Lee Renaud Memorial Library.
4. Will promote new community outreach opportunities.
5. Potentially, based on the unknown content variables of the collection, we may discover never-before-seen-or-known imagery and text. This could lead to a better understanding of how model aviation has impacted society and aviation as we understand it.

The following deliverable products will be realized from the completion of the project:

1. Creates a cataloged database of the collection, which will be linked to the physical collection.
2. Delivers new and expanded access to education and research programming.
3. Creates a shareable collection with other aviation museums.
4. Creates high-quality online accessibility.
5. Creates opportunities for worldwide collaboration.
6. Creates a robust online virtual experience.

The museum is one of the finest aviation museum in the country, and as such, there is a dedicated staff, volunteer base, and aviation-enthusiastic community working diligently to grow, protect, and sustain the collection and artifacts of the museum.

The collection represents a living catalog of over a century of model aviation history, and we are proud that we can continue building on the work that has already been done while supporting what is yet to come.