Complete and Implement Museum Plans, Treat Artifacts, Revise National Regis | P19AS00096

Opportunity Information: Apply for P19AS00096

The grant opportunity titled "Complete and Implement Museum Plans, Treat Artifacts, Revise National Regis" (Funding Opportunity Number P19AS00096) is a National Park Service cooperative agreement designed to support hands-on cultural resource and museum collections work at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. The core purpose is to sustain and formalize a working partnership with Montana State University (MSU) that places up to four student interns directly into the park's resource management and museum collections environment. Through close mentorship, daily participation on the park resource team, and practical collections care tasks, the project aims to build real-world professional skills in museum stewardship while also delivering needed capacity to the park to help manage, preserve, and plan for its collections.

The project is structured around immersive training paired with tangible deliverables. The park curator and the MSU principal investigator are responsible for selecting up to four interns and integrating them into ongoing collections operations under direct supervision. Interns are expected to assist with inventory and cleaning of objects currently on display, along with a wider range of standard museum collection tasks such as conservation support, collections housekeeping, and the careful moving and handling of objects as needed. A major component of the work is a large-scale reorganization in the collections storage building: approximately 19,000 objects must be boxed and relocated from their current storage arrangement to clear space for new compact shelving units. All interns will contribute to this intensive move, and if scheduling allows, they may also assist with unpacking and rehousing objects once the shelving is installed. This emphasis reflects the practical reality of museum work: safeguarding objects often depends as much on proper storage systems, safe handling, and documentation as it does on exhibit interpretation.

In addition to collections care, the opportunity includes a historic preservation documentation task tied to the National Register of Historic Places. One intern will help update the 2003 National Register Registration Form for the Grant-Kohrs Ranch/Warren Ranch district by incorporating research and analysis completed after the original form was signed. This component connects museum collections stewardship to broader cultural landscape documentation and formal historic designation records, giving at least one participant experience in technical preservation writing and the process of revising official historical documentation based on new findings.

The grant also emphasizes the long-term value of the work products created during the internship. The inventory information and associated data gathered by interns is intended to directly support resource stewardship decisions at Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS and strengthen how the park communicates its collections to visitors, students, and staff. In other words, the project is not simply an educational internship program; it is structured to produce actionable collections documentation and improvements to storage and management practices that build on more than 40 years of professional collections care at the site.

Administratively, this opportunity is offered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, as a discretionary cooperative agreement within the Natural Resources funding activity category (CFDA 15.945). Eligibility is limited to public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, aligning with the MSU partnership model described in the narrative. The opportunity was created on April 8, 2019, originally closed on April 17, 2019, and anticipated a single award with an award ceiling of $32,427. Overall, the funding supports a focused, mentor-led internship cohort that both advances the park's immediate collections needs (inventory, cleaning, rehousing, and storage reconfiguration) and strengthens institutional knowledge through updated National Register documentation and improved collections data for ongoing interpretation and management.

• The Department of the Interior, National Park Service in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Complete and Implement Museum Plans, Treat Artifacts, Revise National Regis" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.945.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 08, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 17, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $32,427.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for P19AS00096

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