A $500,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will allow the Grand Rapids Public Museum to renovate part of its storage facility into a new artifact lab for K-12 students, with classrooms and meeting space.
The museum is in the midst of raising $50 million dollars to renovate and expand on its property along the Grand River at the Van Andel Public Museum, and also open parts of the Archives Storage area to the public.
Chief Curator Alex Foris says, like most large museums, they can’t possible display the entire collection at the museum.
“So when you visit the museum, you’re really only seeing the tip of the iceberg, about 5-10 percent. The other 90 percent is in storage at the Community Archives. This program is going to create space for researchers, for student field trips, for special interest groups in the community.”
The grant will fund renovating that space for students, researchers and public groups to have access to what the museum can’t otherwise display.
