Twenty Years of Conservation
Improvements through CAP
Locust Grove Historic | CAP Year: 1995 |
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Locust Grove Historic House Museum Exterior |
Locust Grove is a National Historic Landmark located on a 55-acre expanse in Louisville, Kentucky. The historic site encompasses the ca. 1790 Georgian mansion and outbuildings that had once belonged to William and Lucy Clark Croghan, early settlers of Kentucky. The Locust Grove collection is comprised of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century furniture, ceramics, metals, prints, paintings, textiles, books, firearms, tools and domestic objects.
In 1995, Locust Grove participated in the Conservation Assessment Program, working with collections assessor Shelley Reisman Paine and historic structure assessor Thomas McDowell. Ms. Reisman Paine noted that temperature and relative humidity controls were needed throughout the site, and that up-to-date inventories and catalogs needed to be created for the collections. Mr. McDowell noted that many of the interior surfaces in the historic house were in need of restoration.
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Collections Workshop After CAP |
The assessors’ reports helped the staff to identify their main collections priorities, which were humidity control in the historic house environment, regular comprehensive conditions inspections and reviews of the collections in order to serve their needs in a timely manner and make appropriate interventions, and raising funds for specific conservation treatments. The Locust Grove staff was successful right away in their pursuit of the treatment priority, obtaining multiple Conservation Project Support grants through IMLS to fund treatments for specific paintings, prints, documents and furniture. Humidity control in the historic House was partially achieved through building modifications and system improvements, though total humidity control remains a challenge.
In order to facilitate reviews of the collection and general collections care, the staff successfully completed computerization of all their collections records with accompanying images. In 2008, Locust Grove completed construction of an improved collections storage room and workroom as part of their building expansion campaign. A separate grant in 2009 provided for major restoration of all the historic house interiors, along with the addition of new lighting controls.
Executive Director Carol Ely affirms that the CAP reports were absolutely essential to Locust Grove’s applications for further grants. Her advice to other museum professionals who have just completed a CAP assessment is, "conditions change rapidly (both environmental and organizational), so implement [your CAP] recommendations while they are fresh and urgent, and continue to build the more long-term recommendations into all museum planning such as capital development and strategic plans."
Thanks to Carol Ely for her help with this article.
Photos courtesy of Locust Grove
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