The Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF) provides critical funding to projects and initiatives directing at improving accountability, documentation, preservation, storage, and accessibility for the Smithsonian’s vast and diverse collections. With this funding, the Smithsonian has raised the level of collections stewardship in a pragmatic, strategic, and integrated manner by prioritizing and systematically addressing collections care needs. Administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee (SCAC), CCPF supports the comprehensive and pan-Institutional approach to collections care that ensures the preservation and accessibility of the Smithsonian’s cultural and scientific collections.
Support from this competitive central fund is available to Smithsonian collecting units on an annual basis, for projects seeking to improve the management and preservation of collections and maintain the highest professional standards of care, mitigate deterioration, and/or address priority collections management deficiencies.
In support of the Smithsonian’s Strategic Plan to foster collaboration and communication as One Smithsonian, units are strongly encouraged to develop collaborative, interdisciplinary pan-Institutional projects (involving two or more units) to address collections preservation concerns of multiple collecting units. Projects that efficiently encompass several components of collections care are encouraged. Applicants should consider how projects with multiple components can be approached in phases to effectively leverage CCPF support.
Proposal Limits: Units may submit up to four (4) proposals to the CCPF in a given fiscal year, noting that the total of each proposal should not exceed $300,000.
Eligible Activities: Funds may be used to improve collections care and mitigate collections deterioration, including:
• collections assessments and preservation surveys to establish priorities and strategic plans for
collections care
• purchase and replacement of equipment and housing materials for collections storage and living
collections spaces, including:
• the replacement and associated disposal of obsolete, substandard cabinetry and drawers that
are detrimental and hazardous to collections, staff, and researchers
• the replacement or repair of living collections storage equipment and spaces
• enhancements to living collections spaces that enable living collections to meet professional
standards or fulfill formal agreements to further preservation and conservation
• conservation treatment and stabilization of collections
• collections reformatting and rehousing
• collections inventory and reconciliation
• digitization of collections for preservation, including digitizing deteriorating collections media
• preservation processing
• general collections housekeeping
• training for Smithsonian staff when related to the methodologies and the outcomes of the project