Breaking New Ground in Fostering Preservation: The Society of American Archivists' Preservation Management Training Program

In 1991 the Society of American Archivists (SAA) received a $600,609 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Preservation and Access to launch the SAA Preservation Management Training Program (PMTP). This is the largest grant the NEH has awarded to a professional association for continuing education programming. The PMTP was a three-year nationwide program in which forty-four archival administrators were trained in establishing and maintaining comprehensive archival preservation management programs. The program's pioneering aspects are significant to the future of preservation education and training. The curriculum advocates integrating preservation administration into all facets of the management of archives. Moving archival preservation away from ad hoc decisions to well-planned management strategies is the program's underlying philosophy. The training assignments are also designed to build elements of a functioning, tailor-made archival preservation program for the student's employing institution prior to graduation. The SAA Preservation Management Training Program is unique in professional education and training for library and archives management, and has created a benchmark for future training programs in both fields.