Grant goes to Keeneland for library

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Lexington. KY (Sports Network) - Keeneland Race Course will receive a national grant for its library of thoroughbred history. The Keeneland Library is one of the world's largest institutions devoted to preserving thoroughbred racing information.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is awarding a 'Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions' to the library to aid in preserving two special collections. The collections involve those of photographer Bert Morgan and racing caricaturist Pierre 'Peb' Bellocq.

"The NEH award is a sort of 'stamp of approval' that acknowledges the national significance of the Keeneland Library collections," said Becky Ryder, director of the Keeneland Library. "The award also paves the way for future preservation proposals to NEH and other funding agencies. Current success can parlay into future success.

"The award allows us to enact preservation strategies on two valuable collections - one in imperiled condition - to ensure their long-term accessibility."

The Keeneland Library Preservation Project will focus on 20,000 of the 200,000 photographic negatives in poorest condition contained in the Bernard Stanley Morgan Photographic Negative Collection, 1935-1961, and 4,000 works of art from the Pierre Bellocq 'Peb' Drawings, Caricatures and Cartoon Collection, 1945-present.

The grant will allow the library to purchase preservation supplies to properly house the collections as they are being inventoried and assessed. The year- long project is being undertaken with the assistance of graduate students from the University of Kentucky's School of Library and Information Science.

The Keeneland Library was established in 1939 and houses more than 225,000 photograph negatives, thousands of newspaper articles, 10,000 volumes and 1,500 videocassettes.