ISU Professor Youngs receives grant to preserve Teton National Park American Indian artifacts with 3D scans

POCATELLO – Idaho State University assistant history professor Yolonda Youngs has received a $39,000 grant to preserve American Indian artifacts at Grand Teton National Park with 3D scans.

“Our 3D scans will provide the ability for visitors both near and far from Grand Teton National Park to see and explore (by rotating on a digital screen) high-resolution scans of American Indian artifacts that are rarely accessible to the public due to the artifacts’ vulnerable and fragile conditions,” Youngs said.

The grant, from the National Park Service’s National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), will support Youngs’ project “Digital 3D Preservation and Documentation for Historic Cultural Landscape and Museum Collections, Grand Teton National Park.”

The project will scan historic, social and cultural objects in the David T. Vernon Collection of American Indian art (1830-1940) that are part of the Grand Teton National Park Museum Collection using cutting-edge 3D scanning technology. The project offers new ways to preserve cultural artifacts while making them accessible to the public through online museums, exhibits, websites and educational programs.

Youngs is the principal investigator on the grant, and Donna Delparte, assistant professor of geosciences at ISU, is the co-principal investigator. They collaborated with Grand Teton National Park Museum Director and Tribal Liaison Bridgette Guild, and the Acting Cultural Resource Specialist, Elizabeth Engle.

The NCPTT received 62 complete applications, all of which underwent peer review and a national panel review. Following the reviews, 12 grants, totaling $427,000, were awarded.

The link to the public grant award announcement can be found at http://ncptt.nps.gov/blog/ncptt-announces-2015-ptt-grant-awards/. The Vernon Collection NPS can be found at http://www.gtnpf.org/achievements/vernon-collection/.