Burchfield-Penney Art Center Receives Grant from Perry Fund

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The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is pleased to announce that the museum has been awarded $5,000 from the J. Warren Perry and Charles Donal Perry Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. The funds will be used for the digitization Charles E. Burchfield’s personal handwritten journals for access via the Internet.

In 2002, the Burchfield-Penney received a gift from the trustees of the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation: all 70 of Burchfield’s personal journals, which includes over 10,000 handwritten pages. As the recipient of this donation, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center is the only museum in the world with these materials, which are loaded with information—anecdotal and factual—about his life and work. These pages are currently preserved in their original format as well as on CD-ROM.

In keeping with the latest developments in libraries and archival collections to make collections accessible to the broadest possible audiences, the Burchfield-Penney will use inexpensive and widely accessible technology to bring Charles E. Burchfield’s life and work to thousands of people each year via the Internet—by digitizing his personal handwritten journals linked with images of his work. As the only museum in the world with his journals and with the largest collection of his art and archival materials, the Burchfield-Penney is uniquely positioned to bring the work of this internationally renowned artist to the community, the country, and the world. This project reflects the latest developments in digitizing collections to increase accessibility (such as the recently announced partnership between Google and Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the New York Public Library system, Oxford University and Stanford University).

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center also recognizes the contribution of Buffalo State College for the creation of the Journals database and ongoing technical support of this project.

The Journals are scheduled to be online by late 2006.

About the Burchfield-Penney Art Center

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is a museum dedicated to the art and vision of Charles E. Burchfield and distinguished artists of Buffalo Niagara and Western New York State. Through its affiliation with Buffalo State College, the museum encourages learning and celebrates our richly creative and diverse community. For more information, call (716) 878-6011 or visit www.burchfield-penney.org.

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is accredited by the American Association of Museums and is supported in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. Additional operating support is provided by the Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Trust, the James Carey Evans Endowment, the Mary A. H. Rumsey Foundation and charitable contributions by museum members and visitors.

Media Contact:
Kathleen Heyworth, Head of Marketing and Public Relations | 7168784529 | heyworkm@buffalostate.edu