Lori Foley of the Northeast Document Conservation Center, who spoke at our annual meeting, provided information about several useful tools and programs of possible interest to parishes and parish historians. Please check out the following resources:

• dPlan: The Online Disaster-Planning Tool for Cultural and Civic Institutions has a fill-in-the-blank template for data collection.   Try its demo version or print out the template. See who could start to answer questions for your parish's customized disaster plan. A "lite" version is expected soon.  
• The National Endowment for the Humanities has set a deadline of May 18 for Assistance for its Preservation Grants for Smaller Institutions. They are soliciting proposals for grants up to $6K, which can be used for
  • developing disaster-preparedness plans
  • establishing environmental-monitoring programs or integrated pest-management programs
  • developing plans for improving environment conditions, security or fire protection
  • studying light levels in exhibit and storage space
  • developing a plan for improving storage or rehousing a collection
  • assessing conservation treatment needs of selected collection items.

  Its awards cannot be used for preserving or restoring buildings, binding, cataloging, indexing or digitizing.

The Annual Meeting of the Parish Historians of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts convened at Emmanuel on April 24, 2010. Presentations included:

• Tour and history of Lindsey Chapel &  Emmanuel Church with Michael Scanlon, Chair of Emmanuel's Building Commission
• Stained Glass Windows: Materials and Preservation of the Historic Past in Sites of Worship, address by keynote speaker Virginia Raguin, PhD, Professor of Art History, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester MA
  
• Disaster Preparedness: What We Can Do to Safeguard our Parish Records, address by Lori Foley, Director of Preservation Services, Northeast Document Conservation Center, Andover MA

• New Parish Historian?
• Suggestions?
• Questions?
• Address changes?
• News from your congregation?

 Please see the PHS Newletter or contact PHS.

PHS, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, 138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111

• (617) 482-4826 ext. 888
• PHS_Exec@Hotmail.Com
• archivist@diomass.org 
• PHS, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, 138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02111