The motown museum will implement a general collection preservation plan and reorganization project in preparation for an expansion of its facilities

The Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, Michigan will receive $493,770 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program to implement a general collection preservation and reorganization project. As part of the project, the museum will hire curatorial and archival staff to inventory, rehouse, and improve storage conditions for over 20,000 artifacts currently on exhibit or in storage, including musical instruments, recordings, costumes, photographs, and historical documents. The funding will support staffing and resources needed to better organize and care for the collection, facilitating research and public access. The Museum Grants for African American History and Culture program aims to build capacity at African American museums and support professional development for their staff.

Building on the recommendations of a recently completed collections assessment for preservation (cap) report, the project will focus on improved preservation, storage and archiving of existing artifacts and the expansion of staffing for the collections department. The museum will hire a curator, archivist, and collections assistant who will work together to inventory, pack, move, organize, and rehouse, more than 20,000 collection items currently on exhibit or in storage. The collection includes furniture, books, musical instruments, recording equipment, costumes, original vinyl 45S, LPS, works on paper, photographs, paintings, posters, and historical documents. The project will allow staff to better organize and care for materials, which facilitates the organization's ability to fulfill its objectives in support of researchers and the public.