Tag: free resources

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Collections Management Museum Collections Private Collections

Free Resources: Motorized Vehicle Collections (and more!)

Liberace’s Rhinestone Roadster, photo by Melanie Coffee

When I was hired to stabilize and inventory the Liberace Museum’s vast and varied collections, I felt I needed to get up to speed (so to speak) on the care of artifact types with which I had no previous experience. Liberace’s incredible car collection was the one that intimidated me the most. I reached out to the now defunct and greatly missed American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Registrars Committee ListServ for help and was ever-thankful when the collections manager at the Henry Ford Museum was reached out to share his automobile care documents with me.

I recently re-visited the Henry Ford Museum’s website – and discovered that they have now share a number of artifact care manuals online as free downloads. Not just focusing on motorized vehicles, but on all types of collections they care for, from acrylic paintings to historic tabby buildings and everything in between. Definitely worth a bookmark or two!

One thing I love about the museum field is everyone’s willingness to share their acquired knowledge and documentation. Let’s all raise some boats together!

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Collections Management Museum Collections Private Collections

Free Resources: The “What’s Bugging You?” Guide to Integrated Pest Management

Image of Dermestid Larva, Daniel R. Suiter, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org, is licensed under CC.

While presenting a workshop on freezer treatment for pests in collections, I asked attendees to raise their hands if they had an existing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan at their institution. Not a single person raised their hand – which surprised me.

According to the comprehensive MuseumPests.net:
“Up to 54% of collections have reported damage from pests. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a proactive preventive approach that dramatically reduces pests in your building and increases safety to staff and visitors by reducing the use of pesticides, which saves your institution money in the long-term.”

Over the past decade, the MuseumPests.net website has grown from a simple pestlist to a robust resource for all things relating to collections insects and their mitigation. From Prevention, Monitoring, Identification & Treatment to Conferences and Working Groups – the website has truly become one-stop shopping for understanding the who, what, when, how, and why of your IPM needs.

Establishing an IPM:
Although the development and implementation process sounds intimidating, it can be scaled to your institution’s budget and available manpower. (I find manpower and time to be an IPM program’s largest resource commitment.)  Getting up and running can be as simple as drawing a floor plan of your museum, purchasing and placing some sticky traps (I prefer tent-style Trapper Monitor & Insect Glue Traps) in pertinent places, checking the traps on schedule, and then identifying and documenting your finds. Once established, checking and replacing the traps regularly becomes the most time and human resource-heavy part of the program.

Pest Identification:
OK, so we’ve caught some pests – how do we identify them? Two of the museums I’ve worked at in the past have been lucky enough to have entomologists on staff – but lacking an institutional insect expert, there are many free resources to tap into online:
MuseumPests.net – robust resources for pest identification. I strongly recommend subscribing to the PestList email distribution list, it’s filled with fun images of insects your colleagues have found, and experts that will help identify yours!

Documentation:
Documentation can be a simple Excel spreadsheet or, if your budget is a bit more flush, a dedicated subscription program such as ZaksZPestTracker.

As comprehensive as the site is: MuseumPests.net does not offer experts who can help set up an IPM for you – that’s where we come in! We’ve advised, developed, implemented and monitored IPM’s for many institutions. Contact us if we can help you with yours!

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Collections Management Museum Collections Private Collections

Free Resources: Care & Feeding of Taxidermy Collections

Bird cases at La Specola, Florence, Italy. Photo by Melanie Coffee.

When I first started working at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, online museum care guides for taxidermy were few and far between. Two of us working in collections dubbed ourselves “Team Taxidermy” and started reaching out to anyone we could find from taxidermists to museum folks, to taxidermy bird cleaning seminar hosts, trying to learn as much as we could about the care and feeding of the “silent zoo”. Tim Bovard, taxidermist at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, was one of the people we were thrilled to hear back from. We fell down a deep rabbit hole, learning about the father of modern taxidermy and creator of the Field Museum’s dramatic dioramas, Carl Akeley, who famously killed a leopard “with his bare hands” while in the field in Somalia in 1896. The Field still exhibits the Akeley dioramas to this day.

Today, there are far more free online resources on taxidermy care available. Here are some of our favorites:
Connecting To Collections Care: Troublesome Trophies and Fragile Feathered Friends: Intro to the Care of Historic Taxidermy webinar and the associated Taxidermy Online Resource & Bibliography
London Natural History Museum’s Conservation Centre: Standards in the care of skins and taxidermy collections
Natural Sciences Collections Association (NatSCA): Care and Conservation of Natural History Collections – Vertebrates pdf (reproduced from Carter, D. & Walker, A. K. (1999). Care and Conservation of Natural History Collections. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. with permission from publishers, editors, and all contributors)

Taxidermy mounts are complex artifacts that can be damaged by various environmental and biological factors. Whether you have a single trophy mount displayed in your home, several mounts forming a diorama in a museum or a collection of natural science specimens, it is essential to understand how these mounts and skins are made, how they deteriorate, and how to care for them to ensure their preservation.

We’ve developed an in-state network of taxidermy professionals who can assist with taxidermy needs in private and public collections. From cleaning to pest mitigation, don’t hesitate to contact us if your mounts need attention and care.


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Collections Management

Free Resource: Digitizing & Storing Lantern Slides

Image of backlit lantern slide with blue emulsion and white lettering.
Lantern Slide Transparency Scan. Collection of the Gem Theater.

We recently collaborated with the Gem Theater on cataloguing, photographing and packing artifacts onsite in Pioche, Nevada. Pioche’s Gem Theater is a 1930s movie theater, included on the National Register of Historic Places, that is currently undergoing restoration. Phase one of the collections project focused on the documentation, digitization and preservation of the Gem’s wonderful lantern slide collection.

After much research, the process we largely followed was developed by Penn State University Libraries for their Mira Dock Forestry Lantern Slide Collection and kindly posted as a free reference for everyone to access. Each lantern slide was cataloged in Excel, cleaned with acid-free film cleaner, scanned in two different modes using our Epson V850 Pro scanner, cleaned again, rehoused in archival sleeves and packed inside archival boxes.

Lantern slide in open archival envelope.
Lantern Slide in archival envelope. Collection of the Gem Theater.

As a photographer, I was happy we had the opportunity to work with this interesting collection – and it did not disappoint. Do you have undocumented photographic or film collections that needs some care? We would love to help!

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Collections Management

Free Resources: Care and Mounting of Costume and Textile Collections

Over the years I’ve had the honor to inventory, pack and care for some of the most incredible performance textile collections Las Vegas has to offer – the pinnacles being the Liberace and Folies Bergère costume collections.

Previous to that, I had some experience with handling, exhibition and storage of Guatemalan huipils and historic rugs at UNLV’s Barrick Museum – but when I was hired to inventory and pack the Liberace Museum’s varied collections post-closure, I felt I needed to expand my knowledge and step up my game.

Enter “An Illustrated Guide to the Care of Costume and Textile Collections” graciously posted as a free resource by Collections Trust in the UK. One of my favorite invaluable overviews – I’ve since shared this document with Nevada State Museum interns and many projects with textile collections such as the Junior League / Morelli House and Walking Box Ranch. I am happy to continue to share it here!

Regarding mounting costumes for photography or exhibition, there is another terrific free resource from Dress and Textile Specialists / Arts Council England “Mounting Historic Dress for Display” – produced to accompany a two-part course of the same name held at The Clothworkers’ Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion, V&A, London, and also at the Fashion Museum, Bath and at the Gallery of Costume, Manchester.

Each textile collection presents unique materials and challenges for storage as well as exhibit. If you have any questions, project or workshop needs – feel free to contact us at any time. We’re always here to help!


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Collections Management

Free Resources: Caring for Rug & Flat Textile Collections

One of my passions is improving collections management practices and mentoring students / interns new to the field. I frequently have opportunities to put together workshops focused on the handling, packing and storage of a variety of object types for universities and institutions.

This week we’ve been working with rugs!

There are many terrific (and free) online professional development resources available – here are some of my favorite videos regarding the care and feeding of historic rug and flat textile collections.

The following video tutorials contain an overview of materials and techniques associated with archival rug and flat textile storage, as well as a second video that focuses on cost cutting alternative materials, for channeling the budget conscious MacGyver in all of us.

Rolling Textiles for Housing Collections [Tutorial]

Alternative Materials for Rolling Textiles

Every rug collection, of course, has unique storage challenges and concerns. I’d love to help ensure your historic textiles are documented and stored in accordance with collections management best practices. Hands-on workshops are also available! How can I help?