The purchase of disaster preparedness, storage,
and environmental monitoring supplies with a focus on safeguarding collections against
the risks of theft and earthquake. The holdings
of the library, archive, and museum help to document women’s history in the
United States, with a particular focus on California. They include
approximately 5,000 books, journals, audiovisual materials and oral histories
from the 1800s to the present; special collections documenting women’s activities
in politics, agriculture, economics, and culture; and art, artifacts, and
fashion items dating from the 1600s to the 1970s. Notable items in the collection include the
papers of California suffragist Alice Park and California Senator Lucy Killea
and a first edition of The History of
Women’s Suffrage, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper.
The Women's Museum of
California is requesting support from the National Endowment for the Humanities
to purchase disaster preparedness and response supplies and environmental
monitoring equipment needed to fulfill recommendations from a 2015
CalPreservation Collection Assessment. Support from the National Endowment for
the Humanities will be used to purchase a stash of emergency supplies, sturdier
shelving, earthquake straps, a security alarm, water detector, and PEM2. The Women's Museum of California is one of
six museums that exclusively focuses on women's history in the nation, and is
the only women's museum on the West Coast. The purchase of these supplies will
prolong the life of its Archival Collection, Historic Clothing, Costume, and
Textile Collection, Library and Special Collections.