San Diego Air & Space Museum Wins $250K Grant to Better Track, Access Collections

The San Diego Air & Space Museum has been awarded a three-year $250,000 grant to help fund the third phase of the museum’s “Great Explorations” project.

The funding is courtesy of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, which has previously funded the project, intended to increase public access to the museum’s collections through improved online records, images and search aids.

The grant also will enable the Balboa Park museum to continue its efforts to strengthen and optimize its collection care and management systems.

“Streamlining these tasks will improve public access to our collections, and we will be able to provide more detailed information about our collections to researchers and expand our audience by providing a new platform for visitors to explore the museum digitally,” said Katrina Pescador, the museum’s collections and research director.

During the second phase of “Great Explorations,” the museum established new standards for maintaining collections information, requiring an update to old records to meet the new standards.  

The third phase of the project will allow the museum to acquire new collections and archive management systems.  Combining systems will enable users to search in one location across all collection types.

“In short,” officials said, “this project will help keep the history of the museum’s objects safe and accessible for future generations.” 

The San Diego Air & Space Museum is California’s official air and space museum and education center and also an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.