June 8, 2013

The Many Options For Quality Museum Storage

By Teri Farley


Curators are often tasked with finding a quality solution for museum storage. Since the artifacts are all slightly different sometimes individual methods to store them need to be thought of. Each type of artifact usually has a different preferred method to store or archive it. These methods can involve preserving, mounting, and organizing the artifacts. Some of the methods are strictly to keep the artifacts or art safe during transport while others are for both display and archiving purposes.

Different artifacts will have different methods to display them and to archive them. Many of these methods to house artifacts will involve mounting, preserving, and organizing the artifacts. Many of the modern art collections will use a variety of ways to keep them safe.

Storage becomes important for museums that keep a variety of artifacts and rotate displays. Many of the display options are meant for storage as well as display. This way the artifacts and displays can be changed without damaging or exposing the artifacts to open air and the possibility of being broken.

When a piece is archived it is normally put into a wooden crate and sealed. These often look like shipping crates and the artifacts are accompanied by packing material of some sort. If the artifacts are placed in a sealed crate that is clear it may be a case where if the artifact is exposed to air it can be damaged. Some artifacts are vacuum sealed so they cannot be damaged by changes in pressure.

Many of the museum archiving options are dictated by the size and shape of the artifact to be stored. Special cases have to be built for those artifacts that are oddly shaped such as a jawbone or a tooth. Most of the storage options for museums are custom built for the artifacts that they house.

When artifacts are just placed into an archive and not taken out again for a while, they are usually packed into crates. These crates are usually made from wood much like shipping crates are. The artifacts are packed together or individually depending on the type of artifact, method of storing it, and where the crate will be. Sometimes the crates are packed and shipped elsewhere and other times they are just stored.

The packing material can be simple straw or packing Styrofoam peanuts. Each of the artifacts is usually placed securely in the crate before it is sealed. Shipping labels can then be placed on the crates. In the place of shipping labels archive labels can also help curators to store the collection in the correct order.

Museum's methods of storing art do not have to be limited to just one type of display. A variety of different museum storage methods can be used to store less valuable artifacts while secured boxes or safes are needed for valuable artifacts. When a safe is used for artifact storage it can be a single combination locked box or a full wall safe. Some museums have locking cases installed for all valuable artifacts to prevent theft. Some of the most sophisticated methods of storing artifacts available are used for the protection and transport of extremely valuable artifacts.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts