Category: Topics

44th Annual Meeting – Collections Care, May 15, "Comprehensive Collection Risk Assessment at Museum Victoria" by Maryanne McCubbin and Robert Waller

This presentation focused on using the Cultural Property Risk Analysis Model (CPRAM) at the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. If you scroll to the bottom of this web page you can obtain a free e-copy of CPRAM from Protect Heritage.
Museum Victoria, founded in 1854, specializes in a large range of materials and disciplinary types; natural sciences, indigenous cultures, history and technology. Less than 1% of collection is on exhibit at any given time. The museum complex has a wide range of facilities and each contain very different operational management and environments, and therefore different challenges:

  • Melbourne Museum – newest building – half of collections storage is in this space
  • Royal Exhibitions building – World Heritage listed building; paleontology and geology collection are stored in basement of this facility. They are being moved out of space currently because of the risks associated with storing them here (part of the CPRAM process)
  • Emigration museum – state registered building – just exhibits in this space
  • Off site collections storage – 50% spatially of our collections
  • Pumping stations – contains collection items
  • Science works – 3rd of their exhibition facilities

Summary of Museum Victoria’s experience of working on the CPRAM:
There are a lot of different risks in Museum Victoria’s collections. Before doing the CPRAM, it is important to recognize boundaries between collections and divide collections into discrete units, with exhibits being its own discrete collections unit. In total, there were 38 collections assessment units, with the assessments about 2/3rds of the way completed; 1/4 was completed by September of 2014 (unsure about beginning date). The initiative utilize a lot of staff time, but the Museum considered it a “Redirection” of time spent by staff instead of an extraordinary demand. In other words, they made this work a priority.
Museum Victoria’s main interest in doing the CPRAM was to assess the loss in utility value of collections over time. Value of course is considered in the context of the Museum, including historical/technological; exhibition; scientific; and cultural values to the Museum.
The remaining information below is only somewhat valuable if you are not familiar with the CPRAM model. I recommend getting the CPRAM document from Protect Heritage to understand the context of some of the information below (I was typing information that was on the PowerPoint slides that Robert was showing, and I added some additional information):
Risk Model Enhancements Completed at Museum Victoria:

  • Comprehensiveness
    • Source of risk + type of risk = generic risk – then broken down into specific risk – creating a quantitative sense of risk
  • Accountability
    • Ratio of other elements – 0 – 1 scale
    • Accountable for proving this is not the case?
  • Instrumental power
    • 200 page emergency plan = symbolic of the amount of risk, but who is going to read a 200 page emergency plan? Especially in an emergency.
    • Show risks that are within the control of the facility manager
    • Customized information
  • Extensive external critical reviews
    • Comprehensiveness
    • Clarity
    • Evidence
    • Appropriate model
    • Data sourcing
    • Benchmarking
    • Introduce to a range of benchmarks from other institutions
    • Done own research
    • External input is critical in adoption – to become self sufficient
  • Ongoing reporting
    • Implementing and gaining support at an institution-wide level including the Board – this is the hardest part
    • Reporting at all levels – templates that Robert provided
    • Aggregate and detailed data
  • Integrated incident reports into museum facilities
    • Redeveloped incident reporting
      • Online collection incident reporting
    • We don’t report all incidents – not realistic
    • Consistency of logic to encourage consistency of result, e.g. number scale, etc.
    • Evidence of data – put effort toward that instead of assuming the problem

44th Annual Meeting – Sustainability, May 16, "Sustainable Preservation on a Small Island: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Passive and Mechanized Environments" by Jeremy Linden et al.

This talk’s subject matter was as advertised: a preservation environment project on a remote island off the coast of Maine: Monhegan, Maine.
Never heard of Monhegan? Join the club. The island is protected by legislation – it is considered a conservation zone, since the island is fragile and so are its resources. On this tiny island is the Monhegan Museum. They were looking to improve the environment in the museum while also being sustainable: the environment was the only issue that the museum had not addressed in the CAP Report that was completed for the museum a number of years ago. So the museum got a PAG grant, bought some PEM2 dataloggers to get environmental data, and then brought in the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) to help improve their environment.
By the way, if you ask Ron Harvey, the CAP grant is the gateway drug to grants! 🙂
The island sounds like a lovely place… in the summer. Its remote location creates challenges, especially in the winter. The water lines are above ground, so water freezes in the winter. No wonder the population on the island plummets in the winter: 800 in the summer to *50* in the winter. it doesn’t help that the only way on and off the island is by boat: the mail comes by boat, the artwork travels by boat… you get the idea.
Overall, the building had some HVAC elements, but it wasn’t consistent, mostly due to the additions of buildings gifted to the museum, like the Assistant Lightkeeper’s house, which was gifted to the museum in 1998, and turned into a collections vault. The vault has HVAC and the office has heat, but the gallery spaces were unheated, mostly because they only have exhibitions during the warmer months.
First order of business: monitor the environment and get data. Some alarming conditions popped up:

  • Rising damp was discovered in the building due to how water flowed, so luckily that was simple water mitigation: move the water away from building instead of letting it drain into the basement
  • Working with climate control in a passive manner: using things like foam doors to reduce moisture migration, for example
  • Extremes of environment in this space

So, what’s an island with significant collections to do?
Luckily, this is not IPI’s first rodeo in challenging environments. So what were some of the things they chose to do based on the limited services and accessibility?

  • Period appropriate repairs to bring the keeper’s house closer to its original intended performance while remaining a passive building. Not every building needs an air handler, so let’s try to bring the building back to how it was supposed to behave in its original construction.
  • What about energy reduction and efficiency?
    • Testing strategies (seasonal set points, controlled shutdowns) to allow the mechanized vaults to operate passively for portions of the year while improving preservation
    • Improving energy generation on the island and recovering waste heat as a new source of energy
    • Good construction to original building helps a lot
    • Passive operations during parts of the year
    • Ranges and guidelines safe for collections
    • One of the HUGE challenges was electricity. The wiring needed repairs, but the museum was able to work with the power company and help from them to recover wasted heat for collections during the winter
  • Re-purposing appropriate structures to improve collections storage/ exhibit
    • Ice House
      • Extended the collection storage to include both the upper and lower floors to accommodate the need for appropriate storage for the expanding art collections
    • Gallery
      • CHECK THIS OUT: Solar thermal dehumidification to manage high summer RH! SO COOL (if you pardon the pun)
      • Addition of vapor and thermal barrier in the exposed dirt crawlspace to reduce vapor transfer into the building

To keep in mind: strategies and solutions that are appropriate to place – specifics may not be broadly applicable but the process certainly is! I thought it was an excellent example of collaboration while being considerate of an historic building – lots of places aren’t. This project demonstrated excellent teamwork and the awesomely amazing things an interdisciplinary team can do!
Some questions that came up after the talk:
How did you deal with the rising damp? The answer was downspouts and a French drain; also a plus that water loves to run downhill away from building, so the fact that the museum was set up high was to their advantage
What IS Solar-thermal Dehumidification anyway?: essentially they are running the desiccant system with the SUN only during the summer! The desiccant system is a Munters unit by the way. The vapor barrier is plastic sheeting over the top of the dirt layer in the crawlspaces to prevent rising damp.

Joint 44th AIC Annual Meeting and 42nd CAC-ACCR Conference – Objects Session, May 17, "Facing the Past for Action in the Future: Cultural Survival in Native America", by Kelly McHugh

The official theme of the joint 44th AIC Annual Meeting and 42nd CAC-ACCR Conference was “Emergency! Preparing for Disasters and Confronting the Unexpected in Conservation”, however, a series of talks diverged from the theme, discussing instead the role of the conservation profession in supporting social inequality and established colonial structures: Kelly McHugh’s was one such dark horse.
She began her talk with the disclaimer that her talk would contain much self-reflection. This proved a successful approach to a difficult topic, the marginalization of Native Americans within the United States of America (Canada’s crimes against First Nations groups were not addressed). By expressing her position within the framework of her own experiences, McHugh made her message approachable, sharing blame in the problems she brought to light. As McHugh noted, conversations on reconciliation can be difficult as they bring up paralyzing feelings of discomfort, anxiety, and guilt. She stressed that in addressing injustices, it may feel to Americans that the legitimacy of the origin myth of the USA as the Land of the Free is undermined – an idea expressed by Walter Echo-Hawk in his book, “In the Light of Justice”.

Chota Memorial. From National Geographic’s East Tennessee River Vallery Geotourism MapGuide

McHugh began by discussing Tellico Lake, TN where she and her family vacation. Until recently she was unaware that the lake, created as a result of the construction of the Tellico dam, covered two sacred Cherokee sites, Chota and Tanasi. The construction of the dam, which was delayed for years due to an endangered fish called the snail darter, was not hindered at all by the sacred status of the sites, which were later commemorated through the naming of golf courses and the creation of a lakeside memorial. Tying her talk into the overarching conference theme, McHugh pointed to the irony of those responsible memorializing destroyed sites lost through an intentional, man-made disaster. McHugh went on to emphasize the significance of her own ignorance of Chota and Tanasi as symptomatic of the societal blindness to aboriginal issues, which was particularly uncomfortable for her after 19 years of employment at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Tanasi Memorial, erected in 1989. From National Geographic’s East Tennessee River Valley Geotourism MapGuide.

She then directed the audience’s attention to other sacred Native sites harmed in the interest of industry and tourism. She addressed the inadequacies of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, even noting that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 fails to give First Nations tribes the right to completely barre all disturbance of sacred sites. She highlighted one location successfully protected from development for an army training facility, Medicine Bluff, which was done so by culturally educating the judge in the case, by inviting him to the site and having him walk with a religious leader. She also cited current threats to Native American heritage, notably encroaching sea levels from climate, requiring the displacement of tribal villages.
The Inupiat village of Kivalina, Alaska, is threatened by coastal erosion and rising sea levels. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters.

Stressing the inherent connection between human rights and authority over cultural patrimony, McHugh showed the importance of generating awareness of these issues all the while not separating Native history from our own. McHugh called for true collaboration between museums and native communities, noting that NMAI was getting closer to such a relationship and highlighting other significant organizations like the School for Advanced Research and the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. She suggested the use of listening sessions and the creation of collaborative collections care initiatives to allow for sharing in the responsibilities of problem-solving on equal ground.
Overall, the message McHugh delivered was an important one – that as conservators we need to do more to recognize and respect the essential connection between cultural heritage and community, that we cannot ignore the human element in favour of remaining a neutral observer to the struggle for recognition of human rights for First Nations peoples.  There is no neutral position, inaction and ignorance only support the inequality founded on colonialism and racism. McHugh gave an important call to action: true collaboration or bust!

43rd Annual Meeting, May 15, 2015, “The How and Why of Reusing Earth Magnets”, with Gwen Spicer

As we approach another conference in which Gwen Spicer will share her vast knowledge in the workshop sessions Ferrous Attractions, the Science Behind the Magic (spots available as of this writing), we call attention to her 2015 session in which she explained attention that can be paid as to the sustainability of their use. This content has also been submitted to The Book and Paper Group Annual 34, but for those who are not BPG subscribers, is available on her website: The How and Why of Reusing Earth Magnets.
First she addressed what exactly are the “rare earths” from which these strong magnets are made. Chiefly, they appear among the lanthanide series of elements from the lower part of the periodic table – elements 57 through 71 and a few more. They are called rare because although they are naturally found intermingled, early on in industrial mining history, they were hard to separate due to their chemical similarities. (More information including a timeline of refining and increased production may be found on Spicer’s website and blog.)
Addressing the primary theme of the conference, Spicer asked “is it sustainable or not to use these elements, and if so, why?” Today, advanced industrial processes have made these rare earth elements easier and cheaper to separate, leading to their relative ubiquity, to a point that they are now are considered disposable. You may be surprised to learn that they make up components in so-called green technologies, such as hybrid cars and wind turbines. Because they make rapid electrical transmission in miniaturized components possible, they are one of the things that make inexpensive portable electronics possible, such as small appliances, earphone/buds, and mobile phones. While recycling/e-cycling the more expensive products such as phones is becoming more common and a cash value is placed on turn-in programs, those smaller items represent a non-recoverable portion of an ultimately finite resource.
To refine these rare earth elements, because they appear “rarely”, mining companies actually have to go through a very large amount of product to recover a small amount of valuable stock, resulting in industrial waste. As with any mining process, there are sad truths of waste management, such as polluted tailing ponds, release of atmospheric dusts, and junk metals discarded, all of which are potential contributors toward environmental pollution.
While there was production in the US, a highly visible mine incident in Mountain Pass, CA, led to closure based on EPA citations. Not surprisingly, much of the world’s production (95%) comes from China, where environmental standards are considerably more lax. To make the most profit, some countries will also offshore the labor intensive refining and processing of ore to poorer countries, leading to other uglier truths, such as the protection of the worker and environment coming down to an economic compromise, or conflict. Population studies in some countries show higher incidence of higher cancer rates and shorter life span for workers in these industries.
Spicer reported that economic and political tensions has caused Japan to invest in production of more efficient technologies and reexamining of older technologies, so as to use less material overall. As the trend shifts from the cheapening of the source material to what may eventually become more costly due to the consumer waste and reduced availability. (For further reading, Spicer goes into more detail on geo-economic and political tensions in the BPG article linked above.)
On a more positive note, Spicer turned back to what the conservator interested in using earth magnets can do; first she advises becoming a wiser and more informed consumer and user. (Just reading this article is a start!) Proper care and handling of earth magnets, chiefly the Niobium-Ferric-Bromide type, can reduce one’s overall impact by conserving the intensive material resources needed to make them. There is an excellent table of information in the article; as example, tips drawn from this session discussion include:
⁃ Earth magnets have sensitivities: protect them from extremes of heat, mechanical shock, moisture.
⁃ Use appropriate techniques to adhere or countersink them into substrates. For instance, use of hot melt glue can deactivate a magnet.
⁃ To ensure longevity during storage and use, separators are key, such as foam padding, or sinking them into other materials such as corrugated boards or foam.
⁃ Use smaller containers such as the ones they are shipped in, or pill separators, to keep them from banging into each other or ferromagnetic surfaces. Recycle other small containers, such as contact lens cases, to increase separation in small cubic space.
⁃ Keep like materials together and unlike apart – niobium apart from ferromagnetic surfaces to avoid demagnetization.
⁃ See further references in Spicer’s bibliography.
Lastly, as a watchword, Spicer leaves us with the mantra “let us be aware of best environmental practices just as we do in other areas of treatment…”
In the Q&A period, the following discussions arose:
Q: About suppliers: do any companies have more sustainable practices than others?
A: There are kind of two categories – some companies are affiliated with the mining sources, converting earths to magnets; and then there are those that just sell them. For instance, the Mountain Pass mine has started up again in US, under new restrictions, using previously gathered raw material to produce new product
Q: Are there any insights into how to dispose of or recycle earth magnets?
A: There are at least 12,000 e-cycling programs across the U.S., definitely contact them! Recycling can also a present a conflict for resources as trash picking and separation is an economic way of life for some. But for broken ones, sharp or deactivated, recycling companies are a good option to divert the unusable portion versus the municipal waste stream. Harvard University Libraries suggests contacting Terracycle of NJ, to take away waste stream that is disallowed from municipal collections.
Q: At a recent symposium, the personal safety issue came up. What are current safety recommendations for bulk storage of magnets or use for persons with pacemakers or other electronic medical devices?
A: From discussions Spicer has had, generally a magnet force field limited to three inches from the pacemaker (or other medical appliance), can be a distance of concern – this could take even place where dangling earbuds with embedded magnets are present (see the tiny print warning label on packaging of these). It is important to note that the force of the magnet is a factor of its size and any shielding around it or the object it may be attracted towards. Generally an artifact in exhibition which is mounted with magnets is very far from that distance, but it could be true for workers in a lab, or someone carrying an object enclosure with an embedded magnet.
Use of signage on enclosures or mounts indicate presence of covered magnets is a good common sense warning. As magnets are brittle, and can fly across a table at each other at great speed and shatter, safety goggles are highly recommended at all times. Hand protection may also be necessary for the worker, as pinching, splinters or nail breakage, can all be issues when separating magnets, or prying them out for reuse. If you maintain a private practice with a studio in your home, or have occasional younger visitors to your lab, be aware that swallowing by children or animals is an issue! See the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warning that was issued for more information on magnet dangers for small children. (This author is currently working on a Job Hazard Analysis for work with magnets with the assistance of an industrial hygiene group; potentially this may become available through AIC Health & Safety group as well.)

Sustainable preservation survey for library and archive collections

This survey focuses on sustainable preservation methods that can create efficiency, environmental consciousness, and effective management to maintain libraries’ and archives’ collections. The Sustainable Preservation Survey is an effort to continue the conversation about sustainability and where preservation needs are most apparent within libraries and archives. Lindsay Schettler, Special Collections and Content Management Librarian and the 2016 ALCTS’ Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant recipient, will present this survey data and illustrate holistic sustainable preservation practices at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference Poster Session.
As preservation standards and practices are crucially embedded in library and archival workflows, understanding all sustainability options is vital. This survey will assess current sustainable preservation practice and evaluate the future role of sustainability in library and archives preservation programs. General preservation topics are explored, focusing on basic sustainable preservation practices offering the library and archive community an idea of current practices.
Preservation is a core function in collection care and management, providing longevity and access for materials found in special collections and archives. Preservation practices include several steps during the physical processing of the material, including description, condition reports, stabilization, reformatting, and rehousing. Sustainable preservation initiatives derive from a holistic approach to collection care and management, providing a chance to understand the breadth of a preservation program, and find the areas that can be adjusted to incorporate sustainability, such as recycling, slow conservation, supply waste, climate control, processing strategies, reusable methods and material, local partnerships and programs, and community engagement.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Only one person from each institution is needed. Your feedback is vital.  Participation is voluntary and the survey can be stopped at any time. Please send any questions to Lindsay Schettler.
This survey will close June 3, 2016.
Sustainable Preservation Survey HERE!

Arsenic and Old Lace: Controlling Hazardous Collection Materials

Are there hazardous materials in your collection, but you don’t know what to do with them? Or do you think you might have problem materials lurking in your collection that you don’t even know about? Learn how to handle these problems – join us May 3, 1:30 ET  for our next free Connecting to Collections Care webinar.  Register olnine at: http://www.connectingtocollections.org/arsenic-and-old-lace-controlling-hazardous-collection-materials/
Connecting to Collections Care (www.connectingtocollections.org), a program of the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, provides free collections care training and resources for smaller-sized cultural organizations.
c2c-care

ECPN spring webinar: Pathways into Conservation Science

The Emerging Conservation Professionals Network (ECPN) is pleased to announce that our next webinar “Pathways into Conservation Science” will take place on Friday, April 22nd from 12-1pm (EST).
The program will feature three speakers: Dr. Tom Learner, Head of Science at the Getty Conservation Institute; Dr. Gregory Smith, the Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; and Dr. Robyn Hodgkins, the Charles E. Culpeper Fellow in the Scientific Research Department at the National Gallery of Art. The presenters will share their own diverse training experiences, touching on the history of education in conservation science and the current pathways into the field. ECPN hopes that the webinar will provide guidance to individuals considering careers in conservation science, current students and post-doctorates entering the field, as well as inform emerging conservators.
The format of this webinar will be Q&A style. ECPN is seeking question submissions prior to the webinar broadcast. Please submit your questions as comments to this post, or contact ECPN’s Professional Education and Training co-Officer, Elyse Driscoll at elysedriscoll@gmail.com. Questions will be accepted until the morning of the webinar. Selected unanswered questions may be addressed in an AIC blog post following the webinar.
This webinar is free and open to all AIC members but you must register! To register, please click here. You will receive an email with information on how to connect to the webinar shortly before April 22nd.
If you miss “Pathways into Conservation Science” or wish to watch it again later, it will be recorded and uploaded onto the AIC YouTube channel.  For a listing of past ECPN webinars, please visit our archive on AIC’s blog Conservators Converse, our Wiki page, or AIC’s YouTube channel.
About the Presenters:
Tom Learner is head of the Science Department at the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI); he oversees all of the Institute’s scientific research, developing and implementing projects that advance conservation practice in the visual arts. As a GCI senior scientist from 2007 to 2013, he oversaw the Modern and Contemporary Art Research initiative, during which time he developed an international research agenda related to the conservation of modern paints, plastics, and contemporary outdoor sculpture. Before this, he served as a senior conservation scientist at Tate, London, where he developed Tate’s analytical and research strategies for modern materials and led the Modern Paints project in collaboration with the GCI and National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Dr. Learner holds a PhD in chemistry from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a diploma in the conservation of easel paintings from the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Dr. Gregory Dale Smith received a B.S. degree from Centre College of Kentucky in anthropology/sociology and chemistry before pursuing graduate studies at Duke University, where he was as a National Science Foundation graduate fellow in time-domain vibrational spectroscopy and archaeological fieldwork. He held postgraduate positions at the British Library, the V & A Museum, the National Synchrotron Light Source, and the National Gallery of Art. In 2004, Dr. Smith joined the faculty of the conservation training program at Buffalo State College as the Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Conservation Science. In 2010, Dr. Smith was hired as the Otto N. Frenzel III Senior Conservation Scientist at the Indianapolis Museum of Art where he established and now operates a state-of-the-art research facility to study and preserve the museum’s encyclopedic collection. Dr. Smith’s research interests include undergraduate education at the Arts-Science interface, assessing pollution off-gassing of museum construction materials, and understanding the chemical degradation of artists’ materials. Greg is a Professional Associate of the AIC and has served as an associate editor of JAIC for the past 10 years.
Dr. Robyn Hodgkins is the Charles E. Culpeper Fellow in the Scientific Research Department at the National Gallery of Art (NGA), Washington, DC. She received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before starting at the NGA, Dr. Hodgkins completed a conservation science internship at Tate Britain, and conservation science fellowships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute. Dr. Hodgkins’ interests include understanding the effect of environmental conditions and pollutants on museum objects and artists’ materials using corrosion studies and environmental monitoring, and developing methods for the identification of paint constituents.

2016-17 ECPN Committee — Open Officer Positions

Are you an emerging conservator who wants to advocate for the interests of other emerging conservators? If so, then please consider one of the open officer positions on AIC’s Emerging Conservation Professionals Network Committee:
-Vice Chair
-Professional Education and Training Officer
-Communications Officer
-Outreach Officer
All positions will serve for a one year term, beginning in June 2016 just after AIC’s 44th Annual Meeting. New officers will have the option of renewal for a second year, except for the Vice Chair who will be expected to move into the Chair position after the first year, for a one year term.
To learn more about ECPN, please visit: conservation-us.org/emerging
Position descriptions should be requested and any questions directed to Michelle Sullivan at michellerosesullivan@gmail.com. To apply, please submit a brief statement of interest and your resume to Michelle Sullivan, ECPN Vice Chair, by April 15, 2016.

21st Century Salary Agenda

For all of us who care about salaries in conservation and museums, here is a great post on the Art Museum Teaching blog. I missed it in Feb. because I was working in the field with little internet access, but just read it in my review of the 700+ emails that accumulated while I was gone. It’s worth it, especially for the re-posted salary agenda from authors on the Leadership Matters blog.