The haan museum of indiana art will implement a collections care initiative that builds organizational capacity and provides essential training and critical support for staff and interns

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the Robert and Ellen Haan Museum of Indiana Art $593,455 on September 1, 2026, under the Museums for America program (CFDA 45.301) to implement a collections care initiative that builds organizational capacity and provides essential training and support for staff and interns.

The museum will hire a full-time Collections Manager to lead a structured internship program for college students in collections care, cataloging and database management, and educational interpretation. The Collections Manager will oversee implementation of a partnership with Purdue University, Indiana University, and Ivy Tech Community College to evaluate and deploy artificial intelligence tools for collection documentation and cataloging, including metadata generation, image recognition, transcription, and provenance research. Museum staff will re-house objects with archival materials and develop collection management policy documents. The project shifts the museum's collections care from reactive, fragmented, understaffed effort to systematic, AI-assisted, professional function with documented standards and trained personnel.

The work is performed in Lafayette, Indiana, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029. The assistance type is Project Grant.

The project supports the hiring of a new, full-time collections manager position and the implementation of a partnership with purdue university, indiana university, and IVY tech community college to enable rigorous evaluation and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to accelerate collection documentation and cataloging. The new collections manager will lead a structured internship program for college students to learn collections care, cataloging and database management, and educational interpretation. The collections team will implement AI tools for collection management, such as metadata generation, image recognition, transcription, and provenance research. Museum staff will RE-house objects with archival materials and develop collection management policy documents. As a result of the project, the haan museum will shift from having to manage collections care as a reactive, fragmented, understaffed effort to leading IT as a systematic, AI-assisted, professional function with documented standards and trained personnel.