A Museum Unwraps Its Treasures
The Tompkins County Museum in Ithaca, New York, has turned a collection management obstacle into a preservation and interpretation opportunity. After a 1998 Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) grant, the museum developed a program to simultaneously meet preservation needs and demonstrate to visitors the importance of proper collections care.
The museum’s object collection of 18,000 artifacts had not been unpacked since a 1993 move to a new building. The storage problem caught the attention of Ted Bartlett of Crawford and Stearns Architects, Syracuse, New York, and Ralph Wiegandt, an object conservator from Rochester, New York, who were reviewing the facility as a result of the CAP grant.
Cardboard boxes stacked 6 feet high and 5 feet deep had become a threat to their contents, some of them crushing under the weight of the stacking. Old liquor boxes, bubble wrap, wood shavings, newsprint, and styrofoam peanuts had been used, and these unsuitable materials needed to be replaced for proper storage of sensitive artifacts.
With the CAP assessment supporting collection management goals, the museum has received $113,000 in funding from state and local sources for rehousing the object collection. The project is called “Our Historic Treasures UNWRAPPED!” and is designed to be an ongoing exhibit in the museum. It is expected to take two years to complete, and a 350 square foot area is set aside for showcasing the ongoing work.
Every
day the museum is open, staff unpack, clean, inventory, and rehouse objects using appropriate museum-quality materials. The
project is constantly progressing, and visitors have the opportunity to view new aspects
of the collection on a daily basis.
To extend the project’s reach into the community, the museum has established partnerships with the news media. Each week, a newly unwrapped object is featured in the local newspaper, and live project updates are periodically broadcast on a local radio station. The project has also attracted a variety of new volunteers, from high school students to Cornell University professionals, who are eager to be exposed to a nuts-and-bolts preservation experience in a museum environment.
“‘Our Historic Treasures UNWRAPPED!’ is providing the Tompkins County Museum with a unique opportunity to demonstrate to our community how we are caring for our collection,” Curator Matthew Braun said. “We credit the insight and guidance of our CAP assessment with getting us off to a focused start.”
Photos courtesy DeWitt Historical Society of Tompkins County.
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