Peabody Gets $300,000 Grant For Restoration

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a $300,000 Challenge Grant to the Peabody Museum. The money will be used to build storage facilities to preserve the museum's vast archaeological collection, Professor C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, director of the museum, said yesterday.

"Right now we have no temperature control systems to conserve our various artifacts and, as a result, a lot of items are in pretty bad condition," Lamberg-Karlovsky said yesterday. "Now we will be able to preserve our collection and prevent these artifacts from decaying."

The grant furthers plans for an overall renovation of the museum. "Harvard has already set aside $1 million for the revitalization project, which includes the establishment of a Conservation Center and renewal of exhibition galleries.

The building of storage facilities, which is the first step toward the museum's renovation, will begin in the spring and require an estimated three to five years for completion.