Library News & Events
COLLECTORS FOUNDATION LAUNCHES $100,000 MATCHING CHALLENGE GRANT PROGRAM TO AACA LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTER
Funding Will Help Establish Worldwide Online Research Capabilities
TRAVERSE CITY, MI. (March 17, 2005) - The Collectors Foundation, a non- profit corporation designed to serve the long-term interests and passion of collector vehicles and classic boat hobbies, recently announced the approval of a $100,000 dollar-for-dollar matching challenge grant to the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Library and Research Center in Hershey, PA. The grant is designed to encourage members and friends of the facility to help the library place its resources online, making its expansive resources available to automotive enthusiasts around the world.
The AACA Library and Research Center, headed by a sixteen member volunteer Board of Directors have two full time and one part time staff members. Librarian Kim Miller states "the Library & Research Center has experiences unprecedented growth in recent years." Formed in 1981, it now houses over 6,000 books and hundreds of thousands of auto, motorcycle and truck documents that can be accessed by automotive journalists, writers, researchers, historians, restorers, car clubs, collectors, hobbyists and auto enthusiasts. The library also houses the collections of the Society of Automotive Historians, the Pontiac-Oakland Club International, the Lincoln Motor Car Foundation, the Bus Museum, and the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of the Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America.
"We are extremely excited about the Collectors Foundation grant, and hope this generous gift will allow us to continue our mission to support car clubs and hobbyists worldwide," says Library Board president Jeff Lesher. "This grant will go a long way in helping us list an online inventory of our holdings, thus making it easily accessible for research."
The Foundation is governed by an independent board of directors and is administered by Hagerty Insurance. Collectors Foundation provides scholarships and grants to worthy individuals and organizations working to preserve and further the collector vehicle and classic boat hobbies through education, library and museum programs, safety and preservations programs, and youth-oriented activities.
To contribute to this matching fund opportunity donations may be sent to Antique Automobile Club of America, Library and Research Center, c/o Kim Miller, Librarian, P.O. Box 417, Hershey, PA 17033. Make checks payable to the Library and Research Center Matching Grant Opportunity.