HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has been awarded a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to plan the implementation of an electronic records archive. Over the next two years, grant funding in the amount of $47,820 will allow MFAH Archives and Information Technology to collaboratively explore emerging technologies for the preservation of electronic records. Supported by this grant, the MFAH plans to establish and document methods for electronic records preservation, in pursuit of a system that will be sustainable for museums and other smaller archival institutions.

As the first fine art museum to receive an Electronic Records grant from the NHPRC, the MFAH counts Mount Holyoke College, Hawaii State Archives, and Michigan State University among its current counterparts as recipient of funds in this category. Past recipients include Tufts University; Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Emory University; Michigan State University; and the state archives of California, Georgia, Wyoming, Maine and Missouri. The MFAH is among 32 awardees in 7 categories and across 20 states and the District of Columbia, totaling $2.9 million in archives project recommendations awarded by the NHPRC this year for digitizing historical records, electronic records preservation, and historical documentary editions. Project categories recognized this year include Publishing Historical Records: Colonial and Early National Period, Publishing: Editing Fellowships, and Professional Development, and recipients of various awards include the Massachusetts Historical Society, New York State Education Department, and George Washington University.

Archivist David Ferriero is the Chairman of the Commission (celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2009), which includes representatives from all three branches of the Federal government as well as the leading archival and historical professional associations. The NHPRC is the grantmaking arm of the National Archives. It is the sole federal funding agency whose only focus is the documentary heritage of the United States. Established in 1934, the NHPRC awards grants for preserving, publishing, and providing access to vital historical documents.