The National Endowment for the Arts announced September 25 that it is awarding Save America's Treasures grants to 80 projects in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, including one to the Octagon Museum/American Architectural Foundation Collection for restoration of a seven-foot-tall model of the World Trade Center. The $62,000 from the NEA will go toward restoration of a model of the first six buildings of New York's World Trade Center fabricated in the model shop of Minoru Yamasaki Associates, the center's architect. Part of a traveling exhibition, the model has been damaged over time.

Depicting the entire World Trade Center site, the model was built for final presentation to the New York New Jersey Port Authority. It is the only remaining model of the buildings in existence. Once restored, it will reside for two years at the new home of the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City.

Each award presented by the NEA requires a dollar-for-dollar non-federal match—supplied by states, municipalities, businesses, foundations, and individuals who pledge to support the projects with financial contributions, donations, and in-kind services. The World Trade Center model restoration grant will be administered by the NEA. Other grants within the Save America's Treasures program are administered by the NEA, National Park Service (NPS), National Endowment for the Humanities, or the Institute of Museum and Library Services, all through the congressionally-appropriated Historic Preservation Fund.

"Preserving historic place and museum collections helps us all understand better what it is to be an American," stated NPS Director Fran P. Mainella in a press release announcing the awards. "The 80 Save America's Treasures projects we award today ensure that more of our irreplaceable tangible heritage will survive to educate, inspire, and enrich the lives of this and generations of Americans yet unborn."

A panel of experts in conservation and presentation selected the 80 grants-winning projects from a field of 389 entries and will award a total of $15.6 million. Projects were selected for their:
• National significance
• Urgent preservation need
• Educational or other public benefit
• Likely availability of non-federal matching funds.

Other projects funded through the Save America's Treasures grants program include:
• The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, Tuskegee, Ala., will make oral history recordings of surviving Tuskegee Airmen ($162,000)
• The National Historic Landmark Gamble House, Pasadena, Calif., masterwork of Charles and Henry Greene, will receive funds to mitigate exterior wood deterioration ($350,000)
• The Cortez, Colo., Archaeological Center will receive funds to conserve the Yellow Jacket and Shields Pueblos Artifact Collections, Crow Canyon, which are crucial to understanding the Colorado Plateau's Great Pueblo Period (A.D. 1075-1300) ($65,000)
The Old North Church, Boston, the famed church of Paul Revere's ride, will have its windows restored ($317,000)
• The 1858 Lincoln Railroad Station, Gettysburg, Pa., will use funds to address its foundation problems and termite damage ($125,000)
• Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone, Wyo., will use grant funds to conserve its 15,000-drawing-strong Historic Drawings and Documents Collection ($60,000)

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.