Next Sunday, I will be speaking at the American Alliance of Museum’s conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The American Institute for Conservation’s Collection Care Network will be hosting a flash session, facilitating discussions with the audience about three important topics in … Continue reading
Never use sad, crumpled up pieces of tissue again for object transport! Switch to Tyvek pillows. While this isn’t a new idea, I assembled at least fifty of these in the last couple of years. I work with ethnographic sculpture, … Continue reading
I was doing collections research related to my runaway servant clothing project and took a look at online collections database for The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. I’m a museum collections manager by training and I manage data for collections at … Continue reading
It’s been a busy week. As the Chair of Alliance for Response NYC, I’ve been busy trying to connect affected institutions with helping hands, information, and people in the government who can answer their questions. Below are some sites and … Continue reading
This woodcut from 1898 by William Newzam Prior Nicholson belongs to the Capital Collection, The Image Library of Edinburgh City Libraries and Museums and Galleries, which you may access here. One way the collections are organized is by topic, A-Z. While scholars might … Continue reading
I’m a Collections Manager in a large New York City institution. My first museum job was as a thirteen year old volunteer at a “living history” state park, Heritage Hill, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Living history generally denotes that the … Continue reading
Snark. I’m full of it. Dust. My galleries are full of it. Over dust, visitors to our museum and I connect. Dust is an ongoing challenge for collection care staff. It gets on your cases. It gets on objects on … Continue reading
A group of conservators and collection staff interested in a preventive conservation approach to preservation have started the Collection Care Network within the American Institute for Conservation. As part of the introductory session for the CCN during the “Outreach to … Continue reading
It can be overwhelming. It can hurt your brain. But it can also help you understand your collection’s preservation needs like nothing else. Collections risk assessment. Ready? Collections risk assessment evaluates the impact of different specific risks on a collections unit. It’s … Continue reading
Integrated Pest Management (IPM). It sounds like I wield a tiny whip and chair in my top hat, taming a circus of cockroaches, mice, and odd beetles. Not quite. IPM is a system of monitoring, housekeeping, and selective treatment used … Continue reading