Historical institutions in New York state are feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal spending.
The Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave was founded in 1981. It mixes contemporary Iroquois art with archeological artifacts to create its exhibits.
The Native American alliance has a long history in this part of New York. But the museum’s future is less clear right now. It’s one of the institutions awarded with grant money from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network — a statewide organization that helps support museums across the state.
The organization was awarded more than $269,000 in August through the Save America’s Treasures program administered by the National Parks Service.
The non-profit would have distributed that money to 10 small and mid-sized museums across the state to preserve 35 at-risk objects in need of conservation.
Now, that funding has been slashed.
Priscilla Brendler is the Executive Director of the Greater Hudson Heritage Network.
Brendler told the museums taking part in the program about the cuts after receiving an April 8th letter from the Institute of Museum and Library Services informing her of the grant program’s termination.
Brendler said her colleagues were devastated, heartbroken and shocked when they found out.
“By not having these grant funds, these objects that are already deteriorating, because they’re broken, damaged by fire, they could have mold issues, they’re ripped, they’re torn. If they are not conserved, they are going to deteriorate even further and soon be lost to time,” she said.
Brendler says the funding cuts present a new threat to the objects in need of conservation.
“It’s very challenging, when you’re working on a particular piece for conservation, it’s like you’re a surgeon. It felt as if there was a patient on the operating table and the surgeons have already been in the midst of removing their appendix and halfway through, they come in and say ‘we can’t pay the bills we have to stop your operation right now’ and just leave it,” she said.
The letter from Keith Sonderling, Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, says “upon further review, IMLS has determined that your grant is unfortunately no longer consistent with the agency’s priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States and the IMLS program.”
Requests for comment to Sonderling’s office from WAMC were not returned.
Stephanie Shultes is the Director of the Iroquois Museum; Brendler informed Shultes about the federal cuts.
She was taken aback by the letter.
“I never remember a time when we had received word that we were getting funding and then all of a sudden it was gone,” she said.
Shultes says the cuts are creating uncertainty around planning for the future of the museum, which is dedicated to fostering understanding of Iroquois culture through art.
“That’s the thing with all of these things, at the moment everything is kind of on pause and so you just sort of have to think about well OK, so for next year if we are not able to apply what do we do next year, if we are able to apply then we’re ready to put the grant out there but part of it has to do with when and if it does get reinstated what the time frame becomes,” she said.
Shultes and the Iroquois Museum would have used the funds to conserve two ceramic sculptures by the late Mohawk artist Tammy Tarbell of the Turtle Clan.
“Now they stay in the collection storage until something happens and maybe, I don’t know, maybe this will get reinstated at some point,” she said.
Sarah Van Anden is the Executive Director of the Museum Association of New York. The organization supports more than 1,400 museums across the state.
Anden says the cuts are devastating for museums and historical institutions.
She had only been executive director for three days when the cuts were announced.
“IMLS funding and NEH funding is a common way that museums cover salary responsibilities for internal staff, so this will mean layoffs, it’ll mean cancellation of plans, it’ll mean cancellation of public programs. A considerable amount of this will put at risk historic objects and preservation efforts,” she said.
The Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood is not part of the Great Hudson Heritage Network’s grant program but is also feeling the effects of the IMLS federal funding cuts.
The museum is in the historic Stephen and Harriet Myers residence on Livingston Ave. The property served as a headquarters for Underground Railroad activity in the mid-1850s.
Today, it’s a hub for researching and preserving the local and national history of the Underground Railroad Movement.
The two-floor museum is overseen by co-founders Paul and Mary Stewart.
“It also is the place where we have accounts of freedom seekers by name with small details of their stories came seeking assistance, seeking refuge in their journey to freedom,” Mary Stewart said.
The museum received more than $33,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to fund the planning and development of a program that would prepare high school students to pursue a career in the museum field.
Mary Stewart received a notice that the grant had been terminated through email.
She says the letter was “extremely generic,” which she says is uncharacteristic of grant termination letters.
“The termination letter was dated April 15, it was addressed to dear IMLS grantee, no name, no designation, no grant designation of any kind. Then the letter went on to say your grant has been terminated as of April 8th, so here the letter is coming out on the 15th with a pre-termination date,” she said.
The co-founders are now looking for other avenues to make up for that lost funding.
Mary Stewart says the education center received an outpouring of community support after announcing that the grant had been slashed.
She says it lifted her spirits.
“We’re not giving up, we are not going to throw in the towel on this project, it’s too important not just for us as an organization but looking forward down the road, it’s just too important, we cannot let this go,” she said.
