Authorizing the Mayor to submit to the Institute of Museum Services a grant application for general operating support monies for Discovery Hall

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03/Glos II. Collections and Exhibits Are the museum's collections and exhibits of high quality and importance? How will the conservation of the collections be maintained or enhanced if the general operational support is granted? In the answer, the applicant should discuss the strengths. intrinsic merits, and /or local significance of the museum's collection and exhibit activities. The applicant should also address any efforts by the museum in the conservation of its collections. Discovery Hall has been awarded an implementation grant from the National Endow- ment for the Humanities to begin installation of permanent interpretative exhibits to tell the story of the industrial history of South Bend. These exhibits have been ae- signed with the aid of two planning grants from NEH which have led to a broad inter- pretation of industrial history. In Discovery Hall's new exhibits, the story of local industry will be told, and also the story of the people whose lives that industry af- fected: the entrepreneurs, the managers, the consumers, and especially the workers. These exhibits will make the history of South Bend more meaningful to local residents as they view the development of their community in a unique way, but visitors from outside the community can also learn from these new exhibits. They will be able to see the reasons why South Bend developed in the way that it did and perhaps relate this to their own community. Discovery Hall addresses South Bend's essential reason for being, and therefore, has a most importnat message for residents and visitors alike. The collections whick will support these exhibits reflect the range of the in- dustrial history of South Bend. The largest group of items in the collection is the Studebaker Historic Vehicle Collection, an assemblage of wagons, carriages, and auto- mobiles given to the City by the Studebaker Corporation in 1966. Other important items represent: the Birdsell Manufacturing Company, the Oliver Chilled Plow Works, Singer Sewing Machine Company cabinet works, O'Brien Paints, South Bend Bait, and numerous other local industries, large and small the history of South Bend. It is a collection which uniquely illustrates (May be continued on following page) 13