Lewiston's Museum L-A gets grant to preserve textile designs

AUGUSTA — Museum L-A will receive a grant of $2,418 to help it preserve and store historical collections, including textile designs.

The grant comes from the Historical Records Collections Grant Program administered by the Maine Historical Records Advisory Board. It was announced Friday by Maine State Archivist David Cheever.

With the grant, Museum L-A will inventory and preserve unique designs created by Bates Manufacturing from 1950 through 1970. The collection celebrates the handiwork of designs created from hand-sketched and hand-colored artwork. Today's textiles rely on computer technology for designs.

“Grants such as this support community efforts to protect the stories of our birth, property rights, government and how we lived our lives,” Cheever said in a press release.

A recent report to the Maine Legislature showed that many of Maine's historical collections — photographs, paintings, natural history collections and letters — are in danger of being lost to fire, theft, mold or misuse.

Maine has an estimated 200 million records, many stored with little or no security, fire protection or environmental controls.

For more information about the grant program, call Janet Roberts at 287-5791, email at janet.roberts@maine.gov, or visit www.maine.gov/sos/arc/mhrab/grants.htlm