PRESS RELEASE — For Release December 11, 2023
Boston-based Finca Vigía Foundation today announced it has received a $25,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State. This is the first collaboration between the Finca Vigía Foundation and the Department of State. Finca Vigía, Hemingway’s home in Cuba for the last 22 year of his life, has been maintained as a museum for the past 60 years by the Cuban Ministry of Culture. Curators have cared for the collection under difficult conditions and with little resources.
The funding will be used for the conservation of Ernest Hemingway’s documents in Havana, in accordance with the Foundation’s 20-year mission to preserve Hemingway’s legacy in Cuba. The project has also included the construction of a Restoration Center and the preservation of thousands of documents, manuscripts, letters and photos, along with his 9,000-volume library.
“Support for Finca Vigía represents our commitment to preserving the timeless history and shared cultural heritage that link the United States and Cuba,” said Benjamin Ziff, Charge d’Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Decades of challenging relationships between the United States and Cuba have hampered engagement and preservation efforts at Hemingway’s home. Still, the Finca Vigía Foundation has persevered to create a bi-national project that has helped to save one of the most significant document collections of American literature.
“This first gift of financial support from the U.S. government is incredibly meaningful. Our hope is that the U.S. Embassy’s support will inspire others to contribute. Much work remains; Hemingway left behind tens of thousands of papers at Finca Vigía,” said Foundation co-chair, Frank Phillips.
The Finca Vigía Foundation provides technical resources, materials, and document conservation trainings to preserve the irreplaceable Hemingway collection. In return, digital images of all conserved documents are brought to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, where they are available to the public.
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