Fort Worth, TX, August 10, 2010—The Amon Carter Museum of American Art announces it has been awarded a prestigious Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The $150,000 grant will support the Amon Carter’s Access to American Photography initiative, a collections digitization project that will allow the museum to digitize and catalog nearly 25,000 priority photographs from its renowned collection.

“This digitization grant allows us to take a major step toward fulfilling the museum’s strategic plan to make the collection available to a much wider audience,” says Director Ron Tyler.

Providing increased access to these digital images will help the Amon Carter offer a more complete representation of the photography collection to its audiences. “By funding the museum’s continued efforts to digitize our vast collection and make it available online, this grant will help us provide even more resources to those who seek to broaden their knowledge and appreciation of American art,” says Associate Registrar and project director Jana Hill.

This year, the IMLS received 510 applications to the Museums for America program and awarded a total of 178 grants. “This year’s grant recipients are truly an exciting and diverse group of museums, representing the remarkable ways that large and small institutions are serving communities,” says IMLS Acting Director Marsha L. Semmel.

Museums for America is the largest IMLS grant program for museums, providing more than $19 million in grants to support the role of museums in American society to sustain cultural heritage, to support lifelong learning and to be centers of community engagement. Museums for America grants strengthen a museum’s ability to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institution’s mission and strategic goals.

“This IMLS award is a great honor,” says Tyler. “Of the 178 recipients selected this year, only six were awarded to museums and libraries in the state of Texas.”