Mellon Foundation Renews $750,000 Grant to RIT’s Image Permanence Institute
In 2001 the Mellon Foundation awarded IPI a similar $750,000 grant for five years. This continued funding will support IPI’s mission, as a leader in archival preservation while addressing critical needs such as infrastructure maintenance, staff salaries and publication development. IPI is especially known for its innovative technology to monitor and assess storage environments and its leading-edge hardware and software is now in use in hundreds of museums, libraries and archives around the world.
“This funding will enhance the ability of the Image Permanence Institute to deliver critically needed research and technical support to library and archive preservation efforts,” says James M. Reilly, director of the Image Permanence Institute. “Our focus will continue to be on preservation and library and archive collections, with a stronger emphasis on making specialized scientific research and up-to-date preservation standards widely available to a broad range of cultural institutions. We are most grateful for the nearly 20 years of support by the Mellon Foundation. During that time IPI has greatly expanded and solidified its role as a technology provider.”
Debra Hess Norris, chairperson of the conservation advocacy group Heritage Preservation says, “Poor storage environments—high humidity, extreme temperature, pollutants and pests – combined with natural disasters threaten our nation’s collections. Providing a safe environment is the fundamental responsibility of all American museums, libraries, archives, and historic sites. “The Image Permanence Institute continues to deliver essential preservation research and technical support to institutions across the United States. Its work ensures that the urgent preservation needs identified by the Heritage Health Index can be better addressed.”
IPI’s most recent projects include research on magnetic tape preservation, characterization of photographic materials, the development of software and hardware for environmental monitoring and analysis, and applied research in preservation environment management.
About Image Permanence InstituteIPI is a university-based, non-profit research laboratory devoted to scientific research in the preservation of visual and other forms of recorded information. It is the world’s largest independent laboratory with this specific scope. IPI was founded in 1985 through the combined efforts and sponsorship of the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology. Funding for IPI’s preservation research and outreach efforts has come mainly from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Mellon Foundation. IPI is one of a small number of institutions involved in preservation research and development. It employs fifteen staff members working in six principal areas: research on information media stability, collection management and environmental standards, ISO Standards development for imaging media preservation, testing of archival and imaging materials, training photograph conservators in collaboration with George Eastman House (an effort also funded by the Mellon Foundation), and outreach through publications and consultation.