Maritime Heritage Program Grants

Maritime Heritage Grants Program

What is Funded | 1998 Awards | Background | The Act

What is Funded

The Maritime Heritage Grants Program is a Federal assistance program authorized by the National Maritime Heritage Act. It is a national, competitive matching grants program which provides funds for maritime heritage education and preservation projects designed to reach broad audiences and enhance public awareness and appreciation for the maritime heritage of the United States. State and local governments and private nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply. The Grants Program is administered by the National Park Service and State Historic Preservation Offices.

1998 Awards

In 1998, 39 grants totaling $652,616 were awarded under the inaugural round of the Maritime Heritage Grants Program. The types of projects funded included: maritime education and information access projects, exhibit and heritage trail development, preservation of ships, lighthouses and other maritime properties, and survey and conservation of underwater archaeological resources. Listed below, by state, are the projects that received funding.


CALIFORNIA
Organization:	Central Coast Lighthouse Keepers (CCLK) - $25,000
Title:	Point Sur Lighthouse's Lantern Room and Upper Gallery Preservation

Organization:	Maritime Museum Association of San Diego - $14,000
Title:	Rehabilitation of PILOT: a Diego Harbor Pilot Boat 1914-1996

Organization:	National Maritime Museum Association - $15,000
Title:	The Historic Ship BALCLUTHA: Quarter Deck Preservation Project

Organization:	U.S.S. Hornet Museum - $11,250
Title:	Curatorial Project--U.S.S. Hornet Museum

CONNECTICUT
Organization:	Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. - $24,400
Title:	Connecticut Customs Districts Records 1789-1939: A Preservation and Access Project

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Organization:	Naval Historical Foundation - $25,000
Title:	Naval Historical Foundation Reconciliation Project: A Proposal to Gain Public Access to Historic Nautical Documents, Photographs, and Artifacts

FLORIDA
Organization:	Cortez Village Historical Society - $5,000
Title:	Commercial Fishing Through the Centuries: Florida's Maritime Heritage

GEORGIA
Organization:	Woodruff Museum of Civil War Naval History - $12,500
Title:	Relocation of the CSS JACKSON and CSS CHATTAHOOCHEE

IOWA
Organization:	Mississippi River Museum - $25,500
Title:	Boatbuilding on the Mississippi: An Interactive Exhibit.

KENTUCKY
Organization:	Belle of Louisville Operating Board - $43,000
Title:	Preservation of the Mayor Andrew Broaddus, the Last Remaining U.S. Coast Guard Inland Lifesaving Station

LOUISIANA
Organization:	Center for Traditional Loiusiana Boat Building - $9,000
Title:	Travelling Exhibit of Ten Distinct Pirogue Types From South Louisiana

MAINE
Organization:	City of Portland - $25,000
Title:	Preservation of the Portland Observatory

Organization:	Old York Historical Society - $4,100
Title:	Preservation of Historic Hancock Warehouse and Marshall Store

Organization:	Penobscot Marine Museum - $49,816
Title:	Watercraft Education Project: One Hundred Years of Boating on Maine's Lakes, Shores, and Rivers

MARYLAND
Organization:	Constellation Foundation, Inc.
Title:	CONSTELLATION Restoration Effort

Organization:	Maryland Historical Society - $10,000
Title:	Research, plan, and design an exhibition master plan for a waterfront maritime center

MASSACHUSETTS
Organization:	Luna Preservation Society, Inc. - $12,500
Title:	Outfit Rehabilitation of the Diesel-Electric Tug LUNA

Organization:	Orleans Historical Society, Inc. - $10,000
Title:	Preserving the Engineering Plant of the Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat 36500

Organization:	U.S.S. Constitution Museum - $25,000
Title:	"All Hands On Deck" Educator Outreach Project

Organization:	USS Massachusetts Memorial Committee, Inc. - $21,500
Title:	Deck Replacement Aboard USS MASSACHUSETTS

MICHIGAN
Organization:	Inland Seas Education Association - $4,000
Title:	The Age of Great Lakes Schooners: Life Along the Manitou Passage

NEW YORK
Organization:	Adirondack Museum - $10,000
Title:	Steam Launch OSPREY Restoration

Organization:	The Conservancy for Historic Battery Park - $11,350
Title:	Interpretive Seawall Panels

Organization:	The Hudson Waterfront Museum - $7,000
Title:	The Hudson Waterfront Museum Maritime Education Program

Organization:	Local Television, Inc. (LTV) - $20,750
Title:	Storm Warriors, the Story of the U.S. Life Saving Service

Organization:	New York State Divers Association - $3,100
Title:	Diving Historical Sites in New York Brochure

Organization:	Niagara County Department of Planning, Development, and Tourism - $2,500
Title:	Documentation Report on the Erie Canal "Flight of Five" Locks

Organization:	South Street Seaport Museum - $7,500
Title:	World Port, New York: An Electronic Curriculum

NORTH CAROLINA
Organization:	Chicamacomico Historical Association - $10,000
Title:	Restoration of 1874 Chicamacomico Life Saving Life Station

Organization:	Edenton Historical Commission - $15,000
Title:	Preservation of the Roanoke River Lighthouse

Organization:	Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum - $25,000
Title:	Maritime Heritage Public Education Programming on North Carolina Piracy

OHIO
Organization:	Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, Bowling Green State University - $24,850
Title:	Vessels of the Great Lakes: Image Database Project

PENNSYLVANIA
Organization:	Independence Seaport Museum - $14,000
Title:	Protective Measures for the Cruiser OLYMPIA: Waterproofing, Moorings/Access, Electrical Upgrades, Asbestos Abatement

RHODE ISLAND
Organization:	Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) - $26,000
Title:	Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project--1999 Field Work

TEXAS
Organization:	Conservation Research Laboratory, Nautical Archaeology Program - $10,000
Title:	The LaSalle Shipwreck Conservation Project

VIRGINIA
Organization:	The Mariners' Museum - $15,000
Title:	Expanding Access to the Eldridge Collection: Steam Navigation in America

Organization:	The Nature Conservancy's Virginia Coast Reserve - $25,000
Title:	Preservation of Historic 1895 Cape Charles Lighthouse Keepers Quarters

WASHINGTON
Organization:	Clallum County Historical Society - $4,000
Title:	West End Shipwreck Education Project

Organization:	Steamer Virginia V Foundation - $15,000
Title:	Steamer Virginia V Restoration Project: Restoration of the Main Superstructure

Background

The Maritime Heritage Grants Program was designed to be a long-term, dedicated funding source for maritime heritage preservation and education efforts. Prior to this program, Federal assistance for maritime heritage over the past 20 years has consisted of funding occasionally appropriated for competitive grants or specific projects.

In 1979, Public Law 95-465 set aside $5 million from the Historic Preservation Fund for maritime preservation. These funds were distributed through a competitive grants process carried out jointly by the National Park Service, State Historic Preservation Offices, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. From 1988-1990, money again set aside from the Historic Preservation Fund was designated for lighthouse preservation to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Under Public Laws 100-202, 100-446, and 101-121, a total of $3 million was authorized for lighthouse preservation.

In 1990, funds for maritime heritage were derived through proceeds from disposed government property. The Merchant Mariner Memorial Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-595) authorized the conveyance of a National Defense Reserve Fleet vessel scheduled for scrapping to a non-profit organization. The Act further provided that the non-profit organization use the proceeds from the sale and scrapping the vessel to establish a memorial to merchant mariners. The use of vessel conveyance and scrapping proceeds to support specific maritime heritage projects was introduced again in the Maritime Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 (H.R. 4484). This bill, which incorporated the Merchant Marine Memorial Enhancement Act of 1992 (H.R. 5663) and the Historic Fleet Restoration Act of 1992 (H.R. 5319), also proposed to authorize conveyance of vessels scheduled for scrapping to non-profit organizations. This time the proceeds would be used to restore historic vessels and to make a Liberty or Victory Ship seaworthy for participation in activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion.

Under the 103rd Congress, the concept of using scrap proceeds to support a single competitive grants program was introduced September 14, 1993 in the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1993 (H.R. 3056). Through this proposed legislation grants for maritime heritage education and preservation activities would be funded through 25 percent of the annual proceeds from scrapped vessels of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. On November 2, 1994, the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994 became Public Law 103-451.

The Act

Text of the National Maritime Heritage Act (P.L. 103-451), which establishes the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program, is printed under title 16 of the United States Code, section 5401 (16 U.S.C. 5401).

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Last Modified: Tues, Oct 17 2000 2:56:48 pm EDT
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