September 17, 2018

IMLS Announces Grants of $19 Million for U.S. Museums

University Center, Mich. -- The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum at Saginaw Valley State University was awarded a $79,148 Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

The IMLS today announced grants for 133 museum projects totaling $19,931,618. The museums were selected from 472 applications requesting a total of $70,286,279 and were awarded through the highly competitive Museums for America program.

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum will restore twenty-five of 129 life figure drawings in its collection that have been identified as highest priority due to their fragile condition and curatorial importance. Following conservation treatment by experts at the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the drawings will be digitized and made available online. Additionally, the Museum will mount an exhibition of these works in January 2021 that will also be available for travel nationally and internationally. Staff will measure the impact of the project by evaluating the number of researchers who access the collection in person and online and track the number of individuals who visit the resulting exhibition.

“As centers of learning and catalysts of community change, libraries and museums connect people with programs, services, collections, information, and new ideas in the arts, sciences, and humanities. They serve as vital spaces where people can connect with each other,” said IMLS Director Dr. Kathryn K. Matthew. “IMLS is proud to support their work through our grant making as they inform and inspire all in their communities.”

“We are honored to receive this grant from the IMLS which will allow the Museum to preserve and ensure access to twenty-five artistically and historically significant life figure drawings,” said Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum Archivist Melissa Ford. “This project will enable Marshall Fredericks’s life figure drawings to be made available for research and exhibition for the first time and will create a valuable new resource for artists, students, researchers and the public who are seeking to learn about sculpture and the artistic process, public art, and Fredericks’s life and works.”

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.