Integrating Preventive Conservation into a Collections Move and Rehousing Project at the National Museum of the American Indian

Abstract

In June 2004, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian finished transporting its collection, comprised of approximately 800,000 archaeological and ethnographic artifacts from native cultures throughout the Western Hemisphere, from the museum's Research Branch in the Bronx, New York to the new Cultural Resources Center in Suitland, Maryland. The project took five years to complete and finished on budget and ahead of schedule. Conservators at the New York and Washington, D.C. venues worked to institute high standards of collections care that were integrated into the move and rehousing process. Collaboration with Collections Management, Registration, and Photography staff resulted in the establishment of preventive care procedures for object handling, pest management, packing, transport, and rehousing. This reduced direct object handling. Interventive conservation treatments were minimal and temporary stabilization measures were used often. This paper describes the preventive conservation procedures developed over the course of the project and assesses the immediate and long-term benefits of these processes.

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