Arizona State Museum and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners receive Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections
The Arizona State Museum and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners have been selected to receive the 2008 Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections. This annual award is selected by a panel of distinguished conservation experts from across the nation and is presented jointly by Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC).
The two recipients have shown a sustained and exemplary commitment to preserving America’s heritage – one by caring for its own collections and the other by promoting collections care statewide.
Arizona State Museum
Founded in 1893, the Arizona State Museum (ASM) is the oldest and largest anthropology museum in the Southwest. ASM, a research unit of the University of Arizona, is housed in a National Register historic district and is the largest non-federal archaeological repository in the country. The Museum’s collections are a world-renowned resource of indigenous peoples of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. The collection is made up of 20,000 whole-vessels of Southwest Indian pottery, 26,000 ethnographic specimens, 50,000 library volumes, 1,500 linear feet of archives, and 350,000 photographic images.
The Arizona State Museum has a long history dedicated to conservation. Over 20 years ago, ASM developed a long-range conservation plan and has since been reviewing and updating it every few years. Additionally, condition surveys and building maintenance plans are constant activities at the museum and help determine treatment priorities and facility upgrades. In 2001, the museum created a Preservation Division and increased the number of preservation staff and increased its preservation and conservation programs.
The museum’s conservators have written several guidelines for collections care: A Guide to Handling Anthropological Museum Collections, which as been translated into several languages, and “Conservation Criteria for Archaeological Materials,” a chapter in the Requirements Manual for the Preparation of Archaeological Project Collections. Both items are valuable resources in the conservation field.
ASM conservation staff are also committed to education. In addition to teaching classes at the University of Arizona in the departments of anthropology, chemistry, and materials science and engineering, they also host graduate interns and post-graduate fellows for collections care projects. Over 75 people, including international students, have been involved since the program began in 1984.
One of ASM’s largest preservation projects to date is the Southwest Pottery Project, an initiative to protect the museum’s collection of ceramic vessels.
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| Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Conservation Lab pottery conservation |
Designated an official Save America’s Treasurers Collection in 2000, the Project received donations from many diverse sources, such as local philanthropists, tribal communities, local businesses, charitable trusts and foundations, federal agencies, and private donors. Community volunteers, made up of retired seniors, university students, and high school students, also supported the project and contributed over 22,000 hours.
"The work of the Arizona State Museum to connect its community to preservation is a model for all museums across the country," said Eryl Wentworth, Executive Director of AIC. "Not only did the project raise awareness for the collection’s preservation, but incorporating local volunteers demonstrated the community’s support, which, in turn, attracted donors.”
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Arizona State Museum, University of |
According to the 2005 Heritage Health Index survey of our nation's collections, only 44% of institutions use volunteers for conservation and preservation activities. The Arizona State Museum was praised by the Award panelists for utilizing this potential so effectively for the preservation of its southwest pottery collection. The panel was also impressed with ASM’s steady progress for far reaching conservation efforts and for making conservation a high priority within the organization.
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) is a state government agency with the responsibility to organize, develop, coordinate and improve library services throughout the state. For the last 20 years, the MBLC has shown a commitment to preserving the library and archival collections across Massachusetts.
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Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, MBLC Preservation Specialist, speaking at a disaster planning workshop.Photo from Mass. Board of Library Commissioners |
MBLC began a statewide preservation program in 1988 after their needs survey highlighted basic preservation training and disaster planning as two critical necessities for libraries in the state. In response to these findings, the Board began a series of preservation workshops that included topics such as care and handling of library archival materials, disaster preparedness and recovery, basic repair of library and archival materials, and collections security.
After a public library in New Marlborough burned to the ground in 1998, the MBLC initiated the Emergency Assistance Program to assist organizations in disasters. Components of the program include training workshops, disaster supply caches at sixteen locations across the state, technical assistance through MBLC or Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), a contract with Munters Moisture Control for recovery work, and “weather alert” emails.
MBLC worked closely with the NEDCC to develop dPlan, an online disaster-planning tool in 2001. This free resource is available for any library, archive, or museum and provides a template for organizations to create a disaster plan. Almost 1,600 organizations were using dPlan as of December 2007.
The Award panelists were impressed with MBLC’s exemplary efforts to promote preservation efforts and emergency assistance across Massachusetts. Lawrence L. Reger, President of Heritage Preservation, added, “The 2005 Heritage Health Index survey of our nation's collections found that 78% of public libraries do not have an emergency plan with staff trained to carry it out. I commend the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners for addressing this statistic by providing resources to help libraries develop and implement an emergency plan.”
The Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections has been presented on an annual basis since 1999. Previous recipients include nationally prominent organizations such as Colonial Williamsburg and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and smaller institutions such as the Historical Society of Frederick County (MD) and the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. In 2007, the Cleveland Public Library received the award.
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Photo from l to r: Lawrence L. Reger, President, Heritage Foundation; Dr. Em Claire Knowles, MBLC Chairperson; Robert C. Maier, MBLC Director; Paul Messier, Board Director, American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works; Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, MBLC Preservation Specialist |
The award was presented to the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners on July 10 at a meeting of the organization’s Board of Directors. The award presentation for the Arizona State Museum will be in Fall of 2008.
The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works is the national membership organization of professional conservators dedicated to preserving the art and historic artifacts of our cultural heritage for future generations. Heritage Preservation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our nation's heritage. Its members include museums, libraries, archives, and other organizations concerned with saving the past for the future.
Nominations are invited for the 2009 Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections. The deadline is December 15, 2008. For additional information, see http://www.heritagepreservation.org/awards/aic.htm.