2024 Awarded Grants
The first of three Eric Delony Industrial Heritage Preservation Grants the Society for Industrial Archeology awarded in 2024 was a $2,000 grant to Friends of Pumphouse in Richmond, Virginia, for a virtual reality-based interpretation of the Byrd Park Pump House that will provide an immersive interpretation of water and steam-powered machinery that delivered water and electricity to the city of Richmond from 1883 to 1924, using 3D computer models developed by students at Virginia Commonwealth University.
A second grant, also in the amount of $2,000, went to Tooele City, Utah to help fund restoration of Engine 11 and a caboose that are on exhibit at the Tooele Valley Museum & Historical Park. These pieces of rolling stock were originally used to transport people and material to and from the International Smelting & Refining Company smelter through the streets of Tooele to connections with the Union Pacific and Western Pacific railroads.
A third $2,000 grant was awarded to Westminster Institute, Westminster, Vermont to survey and prepare a detailed map of the remains of Crook’s Mills, a rural water-powered industrial hamlet with saw, grist, and textile mills, a distillery, tavern, and workers’ housing that thrived from the late 1700s until the 1850s before being abandoned to grazing and second-growth forest.
2023 Awarded Grant
The Society for Industrial Archeology awarded a $2,850 grant to the Buckland Historical Society in Buckland, Massachusetts. The organization is working on the preservation of Elmer’s Mill, the last survivor of seventeen water mills that once lined the banks of Clesson Brook in the Town of Buckland near Shelburne Falls. The first industrial facility on this site was a tannery, established in 1828. It was expanded in 1835 to include a sash and blind factory and during the 1860s and ‘70s to produce a wider variety of woodenware. In 1880, Horace and Eugene Elmer purchased the building and water rights, replaced the overshot waterwheel with a turbine, and installed grain milling machinery. The grant helped fund video documentation of the building and its surviving equipment. Like many streamside facilities throughout the region, Elmer’s Mill suffered flood damage from hurricanes Irene and Lee in 2011, contributing to the urgency of this documentation project. In addition to documenting a threatened mill, the applicants hope to edit and use portions of the video to raise awareness and secure additional funding for stabilization, restoration, and interpretation at the site.
2022 Awarded Grants
One of the Society for Industrial Archeology’s 2022 Eric Delony Industrial Heritage Preservation Grants went to the Mineral King Preservation Society in Three Rivers, California. The $1,500 grant funded the preservation of a ca. 1870 iron water jacket on loan from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. The water jacket had been installed and used in at least two historic silver smelters in the Three Rivers area. It became the focal point of an interpretive exhibit at the Mineral King Preservation Society’s outdoor museum.
A second 2022 Eric Delony Industrial Heritage Preservation Grant, also for $1,500, went to the Nevada-California-Oregon Railway in Corvallis, Oregon. This grant funded wood species identification for wood used to construct a boxcar, a passenger car, and a refrigerator car at the N-C-O Railway railyard in Reno, Nevada. Wood samples were taken from three areas of each car: the main framing timbers of the body, the tongue and groove siding, and the roof boards and were processed at the Oregon State University, College of Forestry to identify the exact wood species. The identification of the wood materials used in the construction of the three cars will help with the historical society’s restoration work on the cards, allowing them to use correct wood materials for the restoration in keeping with the Standards for Restoration under the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
2020 Awarded Grant
The SIA awarded the 2020 Eric Delony Industrial Heritage Preservation Grant to Nashville Steam in Nashville, Tennessee. The $2,500 grant helped fund restoration of the ALCO Type G reverser for the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway steam locomotive No. 576, part of Nashville Steam’s larger project to put the locomotive back into operating order. No. 576 was built in 1942 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Schenectady, NY. The ALCO Type G reverser amplifies small motions of the reversing lever in the locomotive cab, made with modest force, into the larger and more forceful motions of the reach rod that controls the steam engine cutoff and direction. SIA members visited the locomotive during the Nashville Fall Tour in 2017.
2019 Awarded Grant
The Society for Industrial Archeology awarded the 2019 Eric Delony Industrial Heritage Preservation Grant to the Newlin Grist Mill in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. The $3,000 grant will help fund the Newlin Grist Mill’s excavation and documentation of a spillway gate, part of the historic water system for Newlin Grist Mill. The spillway gate protects the mill and millrace from excess water and has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be operated without causing additional damage to the structure. The gate is in a heavily utilized public area of the park and the level of deterioration is causing a potential hazard to the public. This project will aid in understanding the historic design of the water system, as well as guide and direct restoration efforts to ensure historical accuracy and stability to the surrounding area.
2018 Awarded Grants
The SIA awarded a $3,000 grant to the Friends of Pump House, a Richmond, Virginia-based nonprofit organization working to restore the 1883 Byrd Park Pump House. The Pump House is part of the James River and Kanawha Canal system, which is the first canal system built in the United States. Friends of Pump House plans to develop the structure and the grounds surrounding it into a park connected to the existing James River Park System, which already includes sites with rich industrial histories, such as Belle Isle. Friends of Pump House will use the grant to develop and install a kiosk that will identify the pump house as a historically significant site, inform the public about the facility’s history, and describe ongoing and future preservation efforts.
A grant in the amount of $2,000 went to the Onondaga Historical Association to support its photographic documentation of the Syracuse Pump House on Spencer Street, Syracuse, New York. The Syracuse was one of three pump houses constructed in the nineteenth century when Onondaga County, New York, was the center of U.S. salt production. The pumps transferred brine into boiling blocks and evaporative sheds, the two primary methods involved in the production of salt at the time. Photographic documentation of the Syracuse pump house will be conducted in accordance with Historic American Engineering Record standards, employing a view camera and large format film. Archival photographic prints and digital image files will be made from the 4×5-inch negatives.
2017 Awarded Grants
The Amesbury Carriage Museum, Amesbury, Massachusetts, received $1,500 to assist in the production of a guidebook to the Amesbury mill yard. This publication will cover the industrial, business, and labor history of the complex, with an eye to developing interpretive themes for an exhibit and forming the base for a K-12 educational curriculum project titled “A Museum Without Walls.”
The Comstock Foundation for History and Culture, a nonprofit that seeks to preserve and promote cultural resources in Nevada’s Virginia City National Historic Landmark District, received $1,500 to support its condition assessment report for the Donovan stamp mill in Silver City. The mill began operation under a different name in 1867 and closed in 1959. The Comstock Foundation acquired the mill in 2014 and the condition assessment report is a necessary precursor to its restoration. The Comstock Foundation plans to make this site accessible to the public and hopes also to return the stamp batteries to operating condition.
2016 Awarded Grants
The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc. of Thurmont, Maryland received $1,500 to help fund conservation of three important objects made or used at Catoctin Furnace in the 19th century: a Mayberry Franklin stove (ca. 1811-1819), a John Brien 9 plate stove (ca. 1820-1843), and an ore cart (prior to 1903). The three items were all in need of repair and conservation prior to their installation in the Museum of the Ironworker. These three important artifacts form the centerpiece of the new Museum of the Ironworker, which the historical society is developing at 12610 Catoctin Furnace Road, a ca. 1820 ironworker’s house in the village.
The American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts received $1,500 to help fund its Laser Imagery Pilot Project for the ATHM Textile Machinery in partnership with the Historic American Engineering Record. In the textile museum proposal, three-dimensional laser scanning, typically used on a macro scale, will instead be used on a micro scale to look inside machinery. The use of techniques developed for large structures to document inner workings is an exciting evolution in the field of IA.
2015 Awarded Grants
The Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (BDCURC) of Cincinnati received $3,000 to support its documentation of the Schmidt Brothers/Crown Brewery, a typical regional brewery in pre-Prohibition Cincinnati. The brewery’s history mirrors the history of beer in Cincinnati and America, including the explosive growth of lager beer, changes to rapidly advancing technology, to how politics destroyed an industry and a neighborhood. The existing complex was built in various additions from the 1850’s through the early 1900’s, before closing due to Prohibition in 1925. The documentation is part of the BDCURC’s larger project designing and building the Cincinnati Brewing Heritage Trail, which tells the story of American immigration, ingenuity, ethnic conflict, industrialization, labor struggle, working class society, nineteenth century living conditions, and the effect of War and a constitutional amendment on local economies told through the production and consumption of a single commodity: beer. Cincinnati is home to the largest collection of pre-Prohibition brewery structures anywhere in the country. These lagering cellars and breweries comprise a unique collection unparalleled anywhere in America. Their construction, use, and subsequent abandonment and demolition mirror the story of Cincinnati’s urban core.
2014 Awarded Grants
Chamberlin Mill, Inc., Woodstock, CT: Construction documents will be prepared for rehabilitation of the circa 1860 Chamberlin Mill. As delineated in the project summary, these documents will address rehabilitation of field stone foundations, replacement or repair of specific timber sills and timber framing, replacement in kind of corrugated metal roof, and design of ADA compliant access to the site and building. The building will be rehabilitated as a publicly accessible educational asset, retaining elements reflecting its long period of use. All work will conform to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation, and be completed by a Historical Architect, certified by the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office. Listed on the State Register of Historic Places, this straightforward 30’x50’ post-and-beam sawmill structure I considered a remarkably intact example of an increasingly rare building type, important to the settlement of New England villages and farmsteads, and representing an industry long important to the northeast Connecticut region. Chamberlin Mill Grant Final Report
Lake States Railway Historical Association, Inc., Baraboo, WI: LSRHA received $3,000 to pay a data entry specialist to enter descriptions of technical drawings in the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Drawing Project into its PastPerfect database. The CRIP&P drawing collection consists of about 15,000 technical drawings, most in excellent condition. The CRIP&P railway network had its roots in the Chicago and Rock Island of 1851 but the rail system soon stretched into Nebraska and Kansas, even as far as Colorado, north into Minnesota, and east into Tennessee.
2013 Awarded Grants
LILAC Heating Restoration Project: America’s last surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender, LILAC is a unique artifact of early 20th-century technology and maritime heritage. The ship’s heating system was replaced by an electrically powered one following her decommissioning. Most of this 1970s-era system is now defunct. The LILAC Heating Restoration Project will result in a new more efficient heating system that would mimic the original and which could be converted to steam when restoration of the engines is completed in the future. It will allow for full three-season operation for the public and facilitate restoration work in the winter.
Quincy Mine Hoist Association 1918 Hoist House Engineering Documents: Preparation of engineering documents for the preservation and restoration of critical components of the Historic 1918 Quincy Mine Hoist House. The Hoist House contains the Nordberg Steam Hoist, the largest in the world which served the Quincy Copper Mine Shaft NO.2 from 1918 to 1933. The shaft was 9000 feet deep.
Archival Supplies for Illinois Central Rail Road Collection: The Lake States Railway Historical Association to purchase of archival supplies to properly handle and store approximately 600 glass plate negatives and other negatives of the Illinois Central Rail Road Collection, The archival supplies include paper envelopes and storage boxes for the negatives and cotton or vinyl gloves for the handling of the negatives. The glass plates alone are priceless from a historical standpoint and appear to be in good condition. The Illinois Central Rail Road collection arrived in the archive in 140 bankers boxes and other containers with a vast variety of Illinois Central Rail Road documents. In addition to the photographic negatives, the collection includes locomotive maintenance and operating manuals, public and employee timetables, routing guides, locomotive and car lists, train orders, predecessor histories, IC Laws and Documents (bound volumes, 1-33), train service records, passenger car blueprints, steam and diesel statistics and data, ICC Accident Reports, industry lists, locomotive boiler cards, and many more, including predecessor railroads (Gulf Mobile & Ohio; Mobile & Ohio; Alabama & Vicksburg; Indiana & Illinois Southern; St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute; Tennessee Southern; etc.).
2012 Awarded Grants
Industrial Heritage Preservation Grants Committee received six very competitive applications for the 2012 grants cycle. Thanks to Carol Litchfield’s diligent work in streamlining the application process, and to the J. M. Kaplan Fund’s recognition in the form of matching grants, SIA is able to fund three projects this year.
The Copake Furnace project, submitted by Friends of Taconic Lake State Park, will help construct a cover over this unique example of IA.
A second project, entitled “Wash, Rinse, and Restore,” will help the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum restore an industrial-scale laundry facility on the USS Yorktown. Their project will include lead and asbestos abatement so that the facility can be reopened to public tours.
The third recipient is the Ohio Historic Bridge Association for an on-site workshop utilizing an 1876 pin-connected truss to demonstrate the feasibility of rehabilitating historic metal-truss bridges.
2011 Awarded Grants
Industrial Heritage Preservation Grants Committee received eight applications, all of which met the minimum criteria, and three of which the SIA were able to fund this year.
The Chicago & North Western Ry. Technical Drawing project will improve online access to over 20,000 drawings.
The Itasca Historical Depot project will restore wood doors.
The Grove’s Mill project will produce a documentary of a water-powered grist mill that has been in operation since 1783.
2010 Awarded Grants
SIA received eight applications in for 2010 and the board anticipates granting one award this year.
2009 Awarded Grants
The committee received eight grant applications,and four grants were funded:
Airdrie Project
Re-house Inland Steel 8×10 photographs
documentation of submerged shipwreck Phoenix
Publish a book on Bethlehem Steel.
2008 Awarded Grants
City of New Bedford Historical Comm.Habs/Haer documentation of Baker-Robinson Oil Works (19th Century whale oil refinery) in New Bedford MA.
Documentation of residential space at Hammondville Iron-ore mining town in Crown Point, Essex Co. NY.
Documentation of the Red Ore mine sites in the future Red Mountain Park, Birmingham AL.
2007 Awarded Grants
Peabody MA Historical Society, Research and planning phase of the restoration of a 1941 Porter 0-6-0T steam switcher locomotive for display on a rails-to-trails pathway.
Field survey of Copake Iron Works in New York state
Photographic documentation of the Bellwood Quarry in Atlanta, GA
Mackinac State Historic Parks, MI, Project: X-ray analysis of metal artifacts from two 18th century fur trading posts
2006 Awarded Grants
Phase II of grantee’s work to research, document and nominate an expansion to the existing Millville Historic and Archeological District in Sussex County, New Jersey. Nomination will sent be to the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. ). SIA funded Phase I research in 2005. Phase II is to complete the documentation and the National Register nomination.
A dendrochronology study of timbers from two of four historic ship building sites recently identified through the Lower Eastern Shore Shipyard Survey (Chesapeake Bay, MD) conducted by Mr. Moser, a doctoral candidate at Florida State University. Analysis to be conducted by Oxford Dendrochronological Laboratory.
Archeological investigation of the Virginia and Truckee railway section camp, conducted by University of Nevada doctoral candidate Efstathios Pappas, with particular focus on ethnicity, gender and class through archeological studies of worker and foremen housing; SIA grant to fund purchase of field supplies, specifically a digital camera and total station surveying equipment.
Harcourt Bindery (MA): Production of a documentary video of historic leather book binding practices now done by hand that are to be replaced by new machine techniques in 2007.
American Precision Museum (VT): Research and HABS/HAER level recording of 1840 wheel pit. Information will be used to facilitate restoration/repair of the pit to prevent moisture from permeating the museum structure and collections.
2005 Awarded Grants
At this winter’s board meeting, in February 2005, the board approved grants to the Heritage Conservation Network/Francis Mill Preservation Society and to the Western Reserve Historical Society.
The Francis Mill Preservation Society (FPMS) is working with the Heritage Conservation Network (a non-profit group that runs hand-on workshops) to restore a c. 1887 water powered grist mill in Waynesville, NC, through a series of workshops.
The Western Reserve Historical Society will use the grant to help match a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, to catalog and preserve the records of the LTV Steel Corporation and its predecessors.
2004 Awarded Grants
The SIA Grants Committee is pleased to announce the award of the Society’s first two Industrial Heritage Preservation Grants.
A grant has been awarded to the Montague Association for the Restoration of Community History (MARCH) MARCH will use the funding to conduct research and prepare a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) Registration Form to expand the existing Millville Historic & Archaeological District in Montague Township, Sussex County, NJ.
The Schoharie River Center proposes to use the SIA grant to conduct an archeological and educational outreach program focusing on the industrial heritage of the village of Burtonville, Montgomery County, NY. The investigation features several l9th-century mill sites on the Schoharie Creek.
In the fall of 2004, at the recommendation of the Grant’s Committee, the SIA board approved a grant to the Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society, to conduct photographic documentation of the Great Northern Business Car A-22, built in 1905 in the railroad’s St. Paul shops for Louis Hill.