PRESS RELEASE

July 1, 2004

Contact: Pauline Austin, (541) 346-3129, paustin@uoregon.edu
Source: Katie Sproles (541) 346-0942 ksproles@uoregon.edu


UO's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art receives prestigious grant

EUGENE-The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon
soon will be better able to preserve its collection and offer safer
and easier access to the art for exhibit and research, thanks to a
$50,000 grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library
Services (IMLS).

The grant will be used to purchase state-of-the-art storage racks for
the art museum's collection of framed works by American, European and
Asian artists.

"This grant will help protect this important segment of the
collection as it is installed in a new climate-controlled space in
the expanded museum," explains Jean Nattinger, museum registrar. "The
improved storage conditions exceed the rigorous standards other
museums require when lending works of art."

A competitive peer review process awarded the grant. The art museum
was one of 66 institutions selected from a pool of 186 applications
requesting more than $6 million. The UO art museum will install the
racks in its newly expanded and renovated facility once the $14.2
million construction project is complete.

IMLS is a federal grant-making agency located in Washington, D.C.,
that fosters leadership, innovation and a lifetime of learning by
supporting museums and libraries.

"IMLS is dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by
helping museums and libraries better serve their communities," said
IMLS director Robert Martin. "The grants we make today will ensure
the cultural, historical, natural and scientific collections in
America's museums are available for a lifetime of learning for
generations to come."

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