The National Park Service has awarded a two-year, $29,293 Save America’s Treasures Grant for the physical preservation and research of the Ueckert Circus Collection in Milner Library. The collection is an unparalleled assemblage of circus costuming, accessories, and props dating from the 1880s to the early 2000s.
Appears InFunding will be used to research individual costumes in the collection, discovering and recording information such as their designers, wearers, and the performances and circuses they were involved in. Second, two textile conservation experts will perform a conservation assessment of the collection.
The end result of the research and assessment will be a finding aid that will include specialized information on each item in the collection, including historical background and notes on its physical condition and handling considerations.
The grant participants are principal investigator Becky Koch, library conservator at Milner Library; Maureen Brunsdale, head of Special Collections at Milner Library; Rainie Themer-Bosquet, program director of Gamma Phi Circus; Maritza Atayde, assistant coach of Gamma Phi Circus; and Colleen Callahan and Newbold Richardson, who are both textile conservators at Costume and Textile Specialists.
