New grant enhances Legacy Museum storage, preservation efforts

February 15, 2019

Contact: Michael Tullier, APR, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
   

A $24,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is helping the Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University to rehouse and store works of art that comprise its museum collections.

The awarded funds have allowed the Legacy Museum staff to more safely house valuable art created by renowned artists such as Edmonia Lewis, William Edouard Scott, William H. Harper, Henry Ossawa Tanner, William H. Johnson, Benny Andrews, and Ernest Crichlow.

The grant submission, entitled "The Viability and Visibility Project," is part of the museum's original organization concept document, which maps out the museum's first decade of existence following its founding in 2009. It and other preservation and collection efforts are under the direction of Dr. Jontyle Robinson, the Legacy Museum’s curator, and its collections manager, Theo M. Moore II.

“We are grateful to the Institute of Museum and Library Services for funding this need, as well as the professionals with Patterson Pope of Birmingham who installed the racking system for us,” Robinson said. “With a more improved storage system in place, our team is now in a better position to be good stewards and preservationists of the masterpieces entrusted to our care.”

Established in 2009, Tuskegee University’s Legacy Museum is located adjacent to the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care and is part of the consortium of university and National Park Service museums found on the campus’ grounds. In addition to temporary art and historical exhibits, its permanent exhibits include “The Patient, The Project, The Partnership: The Mass Production and Distribution of HeLa cells at Tuskegee University” and “The United States Public Health Service Untreated Syphilis Study in the Negro Male, 1932-1972.”

To learn more about the Legacy Museum, including operating hours and admission information, visit https://www.tuskegee.edu/legacymuseum.

© 2019, Tuskegee University