ALBANY- Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills has announced that a total of 532 local governments and community organizations in the state will receive $9 million in grants from the New York State Archives to care for their public records.
The State Archives, part of the State Education Department, administers two types of grant programs - Local Government Records and Documentary Heritage Program - to fund a variety of projects related to public and community records.
These records may consist of judicial transcripts from the mid 1600s when New
York State was a Dutch colony, to MP3 or other types of electronic files produced
by the latest generation of office computers and stored on DVDs.
Local governments use these grants to improve records management systems to
better serve the public. Community organizations (historical societies, libraries,
museums, etc.) use the grants to ensure that the rich and diverse history of
New York State is preserved, while still others provide a hands-on history experience
for school children.
Exact dollar amounts for both the Local Government Records and Documentary Heritage Program grant recipients were determined through an intense, competitive process. There were 570 applications for Local Government Records grants requesting $12 million. Of these, 518 local governments received grants totaling nearly $9 million.
Also, there were 33 Documentary Heritage Program grant applicants requesting a total of $396,656. Of these, 14 community organizations were awarded grants totaling $144,396. A county-by-by counting listing of all the Local Government Records and Documentary Heritage Program grants is available at the Archives' web site at www.archives.nysed.gov.
Local Government Records grants averaged $14,692 and ranged from a $452 award to the Apalachin Fire District to the maximum allowed of $50,000 awarded to nine local governments: Allegany, Bronx, Broome, Lewis, Montgomery, New York, and Steuben counties as well as the Town of Brighton and the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority.
The Apalachin grant will enable the fire district to conduct a detailed inventory of its records and develop a records management plan, while the larger grants will be used for microfilming, imaging, document management, and Geographic Information System projects.
Documentary Heritage Program grants averaged $10,314 and ranged from an $870 award to the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development Inc. to a $24,081 grant to the City University of New York's Dominican Studies Institute.
The Catskill Center will use the grant to conduct an archival assessment of the records collected over the past 34 years and develop a plan for managing the collection. The Dominican Studies Institute grant will fund a one-year records survey project to locate and plan for the permanent preservation of historical records documenting the contributions of the New York Dominican Community.
"The Local Government Records and Documentary Heritage Program grants continue to have a tremendous impact on communities around the state," said acting State Archivist Christine Ward. "Local governments, historical societies, and other non-profits know they have a program to turn to for both expert advice on how to manage their records and for the funding support needed to implement that advice."
The Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund (LGRMIF) supports both the Local Government Records and the Documentary Heritage Program grants. In 1989, the Senate and Assembly first established this local assistance program and passed legislation in 1999 that extended the Fund through 2005.
The Fund derives its revenues from a small percentage of the fees paid when people file or record documents with county clerks and the Register of the City of New York.
Awards under this program are subject to the allocation of funds by the Director
of the Division of the Budget following submission of spending plans for the
LGRMIF and Documentary Heritage Program by the Commissioner of Education.