Sept 16, 2004 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 27, 2004
Contact: Adrian Kinnane
E-mail: akinnane@historyassociates.com
Telephone: (301) 279-9697

HAI Awarded Second Library of Congress Contract

The Library of Congress’s Geography and Map Division has awarded a second contract to History Associates Incorporated of Rockville, Maryland, to rehouse and preserve elements of its extensive map collection. The collection occupies an entire city block—the equivalent of two football fields—in the Library’s James Madison Building on Capitol Hill.

Since January 2004, when HAI’s Anita M. Weber and her team of archivists began the project for the Geography and Map Division, HAI has completed work on 80,000 U.S. state maps. Working drawer by drawer, they have transferred maps formerly stored in highly acidic folders into acid-free folders, while seeking to verify the accuracy of the maps’ placement, identity, and description. At the end of this process, Library personnel create an electronic record of map descriptions and locations.

Under the second contract, HAI will continue its conservation effort on 30,000 additional maps. HAI archivist Ryan Semmes will manage this phase of the project.

(Link to article describing HAI’s work on the project in the Library of Congress Information Bulletin, September 2003, available soon at http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0309/index.html.)

History Associates provides business, government, and nonprofit clients with professional historical research, writing, archives, and records management services. For more information, call (301) 279-9697 or visit www.historyassociates.com.