Museum Curatorship
E - references
ICOMmuseumCodeOfEthics.pdf |
RunningaMuseumPracticalHandbook.pdf |
Podcasts / videos
Museum Definition
Labelling and marking
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care and preservation of collections - textile conservation
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Lesson guides
Lesson Topic 1: Museum Definitions and Origins
Museum: An Etymology
The English "museum" comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as "museums" (or rarely, "musea"). It is originally from the Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseion), which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts), and hence a building set apart for study and the arts.
What is a Museum?
"an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; also : a place where objects are exhibited;"
Merriam – Webster Dictionary
"A non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment."
International Council of Museums
The Role of Museums
Museums look after the world’s cultural property and interpret it to the public. It is part of the world’s natural and cultural heritage and may be of a tangible or intangible character.
Cultural property also often provides the primary evidence in a number of subject disciplines, such as archaeology and the natural sciences, and therefore represents an important contribution to knowledge.
It is also a significant component in defining cultural identity, nationally and internationally.
Historical Background to Collecting
Collections of objects brought together because they have personal or collective associations occur in remote antiquity. Grave goods found with Paleolithic burials provide evidence of this.
Grave goods found with Paleolithic burials provide evidence of this. However, development towards the museum idea occurs early in the second millennium BCE at Larsa in Mesopotamia where copies of old inscriptions were reproduced for educational use in the schools there.
The votive offerings housed in the temples, sometimes in specially built treasuries, were normally open to the public, often on payment of a small fee.They included works of art, natural curiosities as well as exotic items brought from far-flung parts of the empire but were primarily a religious provision.
In medieval Europe, collections were mainly the prerogative of princely houses and the church. Such collections had an economic importance and would be used to finance wars and other state expenses.
The First Public Museums
Encyclopedic museums
It is in the encyclopedic spirit of the so-called European Enlightenment that public museums emerge.
This was based largely on the eclectic collections, from many parts of the world, Brought together by the Tradescant family and previously displayed to the public at their home in London.
The Ashmolean Museum, opened by the University of Oxford in 1683, is generally considered to be the first museum established by a public body for the public benefit.
Society museums
Learned societies were also among the early originators of public museums. This was particularly so in Asia.
The Central Museum of Indonesian Culture and Indian Museum in Calcutta were considered as first established Society Museums in the world.
Both museums covered the arts and sciences and were concerned with furthering knowledge about their respective countries.
National Museums
The role of the museum in contributing to national consciousness and identity developed initially in Europe and with this the recognition that museums were the appropriate institutions for the preservation of a nation’s historic heritage.
Specialized Museums
The decline in popularity among encyclopedic museums in the nineteenth century paved the way to the establishment of specialized national museums.
General and Local Museums
These developed from the collections of private benefactors and societies particularly from the mid-nineteenth century.
The encyclopedic idea, expressed now in general museums, remains a characteristic of many regional and local museums.
Open Air museums
An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors.
A new type of museum emerged in Sweden in 1872 to preserve aspects of the traditional folk-life of the nation with the creation of the Nordiska Museet at Stockholm.
Working Museums
Other museums have developed workshops where traditional crafts can be demonstrated and sometimes exploited commercially for the benefit of the museum.
Site museums
Where the site is being preserved in its own right, as with archaeological sites and areas of natural habitat, different criteria apply.
Virtual museums
For this purpose the opportunity to bring together digital images, particularly from diverse sources, in order to present and interpret the cultural and natural heritage and to communicate this to wider audiences must now be regarded an important role for museums.
Lesson Topic 2: Collections Management
Collections Management
Just as museum management is vitally important for the development and organization of the museum, so is collections management vital to the development, organization and preservation of the collection each museum curates.
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT is the term applied to the various legal, ethical, technical and practical methods by which museum collections are assembled, organized, researched, interpreted and preserved.
It focuses on the care of collections with concern for their long term physical well – being and safety.
It is concerned with issues on preservation, use of collections and record keeping, as well as how the collections support the museum’s mission and purpose.
Collections Management is also vital in order to make the most of the always limited resources of time, money, equipment, materials physical space and staff.
Three inter – related elements of collections Management
Registration of Collections
Provides baseline institutional accountability for the many and various artifacts, specimen, samples and documents that the museum holds in trust for current and future generations of humanity.
Preservation of Collections
An important, active aspect of collections management that underlies other museum activities.
Providing controlled access to collections
Through exhibit or research, it fulfills the museum’s mission to educate and interpret while protecting collections at the same time.
Collections Management Policy
In order for collections management to function successfully, decisions about museum’s collections must always be made after careful consideration and in a consistent way.
Good decision – making is founded in good POLICY.
For this reason, the most important museum collections document is the:
Collections Management Policy
Developing a Collections Management Policy
Before you begin to develop a collection management policy statement, several factors should be addressed and incorporated.
Developing and drafting policy is an opportunity to review and set down museum’s goals and how they are achieved if this has been not done.
All staff members should be invited to contribute at this stage.
Managing the Museum
An effective museum service requires the confidence of the public it serves.
All responsible for the care and interpretation of any aspect of the world’s tangible and intangible cultural inheritance, whether at local or national level, need to foster this confidence.
Premises
To undertake the museum function requires adequate premises with a suitable environment to fulfill the basic functions defined in the governing body’s mission. A museum and its collections should be available to all during reasonable hours and for regular periods with appropriate standards to ensure the health, safety, and accessibility of its visitors and personnel.
Security
The nature of museum collections requires that the governing body provides appropriate security to protect the collections against theft or damage in displays, exhibitions, working or storage areas, and while in transit.
Funding
It is the governing body’s responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient funds to carry out and develop the activities of the museum.
These funds may be from the public sector, from private sources or generated through the museum’s own activities.
There should be a written policy of acceptable practice for all funding sources and all funds must be accounted for in a professional manner.
Personnel
The museum’s personnel are an important resource.
The governing body should ensure that all action concerning its personnel is taken in accordance with the policies of the museum as well as the proper and legal procedures in force locally.
Making and Maintaining Collections
Acquisitions policy
Museums have the duty to acquire, preserve and promote their collections. These collections are a significant public inheritance and those involved with them hold positions of public trust.
Ownership
No object or specimen should be acquired, whether by purchase, gift, loan, bequest or exchange, unless the acquiring museum is satisfied that valid title of ownership is held.
Evidence of lawful ownership in a country is not necessarily valid title.
Every effort must, therefore, be made before acquisition to ensure that the object or specimen has not been illegally obtained in or exported from, its country of origin or any intermediate country in which it might have been owned legally.
Associated Information
The context and associations of an object or specimen are also important as this often provides information which greatly enhances knowledge of the item.
In the same way, acquisition should not occur if there has been a failure to disclose the finds to the owner or occupier of the land, or to the proper legal or governmental authorities.
There will be instances where a museum may have to act as an authorized repository for unprovenanced, illicitly collected or recovered specimens and objects from the territory over which it has lawful responsibility.
Lesson Topic 3: Inventories and Documentation
Acquisitions, Long-term loans and Accessioning
The accessioning process supports the incorporation of permanent acquisitions and long-term loans into the museum collection.
This is a key stage in the overall documentation of the collection, recording the legal evidence for the ownership of the items in the collection and providing the starting point for the fuller cataloging of individual items.
The museum should develop a framework where proposed acquisitions and long-term loans are referred to an internal committee for approval, rather than being accepted by an individual member of staff.
When the museum becomes aware of an acquisition or loan, it should start to develop a file with information about the owner and the objects.
This file should include:
↗ summary sheet - with entries about the source,
↗ outline of the objects,
↗ their significance to the museum,
↗ The proposed acquisition method, (e.g. gift, purchase, excavation)
↗ how the proposal conforms to the museum’s collecting policy,
↗ the recommendations of the curator and other specialist staff
↗ the decision of the committee.
The outline of the objects should include an authentication of their origin and an assessment of their condition.
If possible, the museum should produce a photograph or digital image of the objects.
In the case of an acquisition, if this is approved, the owner should be asked to sign a formal legal transfer of ownership of the objects (a ‘transfer of title’).
The signed copy of this document should then be added to the file, as an essential confirmation of the legal status of the acquisition.
If the museum regularly receives groups of objects, it can be more efficient to treat the overall group as a single acquisition, rather than processing each item as an acquisition.
The overall acquisition then has one file and an overall group accession number.
The individual objects within the group can be given separate object numbers, which are either subdivisions of the accession number or independent of the accession number.
If the museum is going to be the repository for all the finds from an excavation, it should discuss with the excavator the possibility of the museum and the excavator having a common numbering approach.
It may be possible for the museum to assign an accession number to the overall excavation, which is then used in the field recording system from the start of the excavation.
This approach would enable the museum to avoid the need to renumber and mark the individual objects and would assist the incorporation of the collection and the excavation records into the museum.
In addition to the accession files, the museum should maintain an accession register, with a checklist of all the acquisitions.
The register should ideally be a hardback volume, with archival quality paper.
It should have columns for:
Accession number;
Date;
Source;
Method;
Brief description of the group;
Number of objects making up the group and;
The name or initials of the museum curator.
This should be kept in a secure location, such as a fire-proof safe. If possible, keep a copy of the register at another location.
In the case of a long-term loan, the museum should also record the reason for the loan and the duration of the agreement.
Many museums are reluctant to accept long-term loans, unless the object is to be used in a gallery display or for extended research, because of the work involved in caring for objects.
If the loan is approved, it should be finalized in a written loan agreement, which should then be kept on file.
Inventory Control And Cataloging
The second stage in the museum’s documentation system is the development and use of information about the individual objects in the collection.
The museum should aim to establish records about each of the items in the collection and continue to extend these records as the objects are examined and used.
The records can be used as the basis for research, public access, display, education, collection development, collections management and security.
In order to support this range of uses, the records need to be consistently structured into discrete categories or fields, each of which can hold a specific piece of information.
Object Numbering, Labeling and Marking
It is important to assign a unique number to each object and to relate this to the object by either writing it on a label associated with the object or marking it on the object itself (International Council of Museums, International Committee for Documentation, 1994).
The object number provides the link between the object and its documentation and can be invaluable if the object is stolen or misplaced.
If the object is made up of two or more parts, it is important to label or mark each part, in case they become separated, such as on display or during conservation.
The parts can be given separate part numbers, formed by subdividing the object number.
Location and Movement Control
It is essential that all changes of storage location are carefully tracked. This enables the museum to quickly find an object and helps reduce the chance of objects being misplaced or being stolen without the museum being aware of the loss.
Conservation Information and Condition Reports
If the object is conserved, a reference to the conservation work should be incorporated in the catalog record.
If there are fuller details about the process, it may be most efficient to hold these in a separate file, linked to the catalog record via a Conservation Reference Number.
Deaccessioning and Disposal
If the object is removed from the collection, it is essential that information about the removal is added to the catalog record.
The overall catalog record should be retained, so that the museum has evidence of the fate of the object.
As with a new acquisition, the proposed de-acquisition should be referred to an internal committee for approval.
Manual and Computer-based Cataloging and Retrieval
The catalog information can either be recorded in a manual system or a computer-based system.
The preferred approach depends on the museum’s expertise and resources.
The most effective approach in a manual system is to design record cards or sheets, with spaces for the different fields listed.
Images
Photographic images, digital images and scientific drawings of the collection are a valuable resource, both for internal reference purposes and for use by researchers and the public.
For example, they can be shown to law officers and customs officials and the media if an object is stolen and they can be added to the Web if the collection is put on-line.
Excerpts from Podcast 1 - 5 on Textile Conservation
Lesson Topic 4: Care and Preservation of Collections
Care and Preservation of Collections
Introduction to Collection Preservation
Conservation and preservation literature can often seem to be dominated by huge (and ultimately unachievable) lists of things to do.
One can become so busy following parts of this good advice that there is never time to stand back to see if this really is the best way to achieve the fundamental objective of preserving the collection.
This chapter therefore adopts a recently developed way of viewing the preservation and conservation of collections as a whole, before focusing in on the details.
At the same time, collection preservation remains an intensely practical business in which detailed practical advice is needed alongside this new way of thinking.
Deciding Priorities and Assessing Risks
Fundamentally, all heritage preservation, including that relating to museum collections, relies on two stages of decision-making:
In both small and large museums, most of the collection arrived long before the current staff.
Decisions on acquiring new objects are often disconnected from those who understand special preservation requirements, though increasingly museum acquisition policies call for a condition and conservation assessment before purchasing additional items or accepting donations.
These facts create two of the fundamental problems of collection preservation.
There is constant pressure on storage leading to less than ideal storage and study space and therefore overcrowding.
Classifying Risks to Collections
There are many different ways to classify and list the potential causes of loss and damage to collections.
When trying to understand and plan preservation, however, it does help to choose a single viewpoint of these causes and then to apply it consistently.
It is also important that the list of causes be complete, so that in the work of preserving the collections, one do not forget something.
Refer to Photos Section for the Table of the Nine Agents of Deterioration
The Collection Preservation Cycle
Who takes the preservation leadership roles?
Traditionally, museums have fragmented the preservation cycle, especially larger museums.
Much of the reorganization of museums in the last 20 years has centralized collections preservation responsibilities under a Collections Management Department or Unit. Within it, there may or may not be Conservation Department.
Other Types of Conservation Survey
Development of a special survey forms that allow standardized information to be collected across many museums in a region that would lead to the development of “Best Practices” among museums in the region or country.
A more traditional type of conservation survey is the collection survey.
The purpose of such surveys is an assessment of the degree of damage of each artifact.
Information may also be collected on an estimate of restoration work necessary for each damaged artifact, and even on such work previously executed.
Where is Conservation and Restoration in all this?
Conservation emphasizes treatments that clean, stabilize, and strengthen the artifact.
Conservators recognized the need to prevent new damage, and discovered that prevention methods could be applied across whole collections.
This is called “preventive conservation”.
For large museums, there may well be a Conservation Department which performs all these functions, and which can also take the lead responsibility for the preservation ideas.
In small and medium size museums, conservation is available only by contract of an independent specialist, or in many countries, by a state sponsored conservation facility.
Step 1: Check the basics - A list of the basics
In giving advice to museums about preservation of collections over many years, one does indeed discover that most of the preservation is achieved by a short list of recommendations, which we can call “The basic preservation strategies” or just “The basics”.
So, before proceeding to the refinements of risk management, it is useful to check the basics first.
Why are these so basic?
The basic items in the list can reduce many different risks at once, often at low cost, or they reduce a single catastrophic risk that could affect all the collections and perhaps the museum itself.
In the case of the first two (roofs, walls etc.) they do both. Reliable roof and walls block all nine agents of deterioration, not always perfectly, but always to a large extent.
The Basic Collection Preservation Strategies
Basic strategies that address all or many agents at once:
Step 2: Survey the risks. When to start doing a survey, and how long will it take?
To identify risks to the collection, one can just react to situations as they arise. (fix things that needs to be fixed)
An alternative would be to begin immediately with a systematic survey, which will uncover the basics as well as the not so basic.
A simple survey of a small museum might take one experienced person three days, a detailed survey of a large museum may take several people several months.
Whether the survey is a simple one, looking for high priority risks, or whether it is a detailed one looking for all risks, large and small, the guiding principle is “systematic and comprehensive”.
In summary, a simple survey is better than no survey.
Soon is better than never.
The crucial aspect is to step back from your job, from your normal preservation activities, and look at your museum and its collections with open eyes, looking for anything that could possibly cause damage.
What exactly am I looking for?
It needs common sense, reasonable intelligence, and good eyesight. It helps to have a feeling for the material world, to be what some might call a practical person, but it also helps to be imaginative, since one must imagine everything that might go wrong.
It also helps to have a love for the collection, since that usually brings both a detailed familiarity and a strong concern for the collection’s safety.
Collecting FACTS in order to Predict Risks
The surveyor begins by collecting many facts, motivated entirely by the next step, which is to predict all the potential risks to the collections.
The surveyor then predicts specific risks. Each specific risk is predicted by imagining a specific scenario of possible loss or damage, implied by each survey fact, or possibly implied by several linked facts.
Sources of facts: Visible and Invisible
A risk assessment survey relies on two sources of facts, and it reduces time and effort if one approaches each separately.
Visible facts
This is the part of the survey where we look with our own eyes, and make observations.
One look at the site, the building, the rooms, the furniture, and the collections.
Invisible facts
This is the part of the survey that considers prior history of the museum, current staff activities, procedures, attitudes, planning, as well as many external sources of data needed for risk estimation
(e.g. flood data, earthquake data, light sensitivity data, etc.)
It is easier, though not essential, to keep these parts of the survey separate, simply because the visible part involves walking around the museum, inspecting things, taking notes, taking photographs, whereas the invisible part involves talking to staff and researching relevant documents.
Visible or Invisible: Which should come first?
It is not critical which part is done first, but it is useful to have a general understanding of museum mandate, preservation policies, old planning documents, before surveying the museum.
Step 3: Plan Improvements to Collection Risk Management
Five stages of Collection Risk Reduction
All the very many, perhaps thousands, of ways that museums reduce collection risks can be subdivided into five stages: avoid, block, detect, respond, recover.
The first four stages are prevention of damage. The last stage is remedial conservation and restoration, necessary only because the preventive stages failed.
Common-sense, good house-keeping, but there are complications...
Many authors have noted that the strategies of traditional good house-keeping” resemble good collection preservation.
In other words, a lot of preservation is common sense. In fact, the “list of the basics” presented earlier would be very familiar to a housekeeper a hundred years ago.
On the other hand, some habits of housekeeping can damage the museum collections.
For example, if nearby deserts, or dusty roads, deposit a layer of fine mineral powder on collections, then cleaning the artifacts regularly would seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, two problems arise: abrasion, and snagging.
Snagging occurs with complex objects. It especially occurs with styles of furniture that use elaborate fretwork and inlays, common in Islamic decorative arts. The dust cloth or feather duster snags fragments that have curled or partially delaminated, and flings them somewhere far away!
A second complication seen repeatedly in museums with a dust problem is water damage.
The most common form of institutional floor cleaning, inside and outside, observed in all the hot regions of the world East to West, appears to be mopping with copious amounts of water, often thrown in puddles on the floor, either early morning before the museum opens, or immediately after closing.
Evaluating Artifact Storage
A box of military badges and textile insignia, without identification or separation from each other, in a small Canadian museum.
A box of military badges and textile insignia, each in an individual polyethylene "zip-loc" bag, most with identification cards inside, in a small Canadian museum.
Relative Humidity
Relative humidity is a relationship between the volume of air and the amount of water vapor it holds at a given temperature.
Relative humidity is important because water plays a role in various chemical and physical forms of deterioration.
All organic materials and some inorganic materials absorb and give off water depending on the relative humidity of the surrounding air.
Metal objects will corrode faster at higher relative humidity. Pests are more active at higher relative humidities.
Lesson Topic 5: Display, Exhibits and Exhibitions
Most people who go to museums do so with the idea of visiting the exhibition halls, and will even try to see all of them in a single visit, which is certainly not advisable.
Concentrating on just one particular gallery or even a very specific object in a single visit can often be much more enjoyable and satisfying.
The public displays and exhibitions are by far the most popular parts of most museums.
It is here that a direct contact between the visitor and the museum’s collections takes place.
It is here where any individual, regardless of age, social and economic status, alone or as part of a group, has the opportunity and space to see the “real object”, and with the help of certain exhibition techniques to communicate or interact with it.
There are several definitions of the words display, exhibit and exhibition.
One leading dictionary, the Webster Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language, defines display as “to show, to make apparent to the eye or the mind”, exhibition as “showing of works of art” while exhibit is described as “to present to view, to display”.
Definitions of the three terms vary according to country and language: in Spanish all three are synonyms, while in French and English they have slight or definitive different meanings.
There are also subtle differences in definition and usage between North American English and that of Britain and most other Anglophone countries.
Types of Displays
Exhibitions are classified according to different criteria. Belcher (1997) gives several approaches to exhibition types and discusses among other things the much used term “permanent exhibition”, saying: “Permanent”, meaning long term as opposed to “temporary”.
This type of exhibition is expected to last from ten to fifteen years. Herreman propose redefining what used to be called “permanent exhibitions”
According to him. since these are planned as part of a core concept structure, storyline or discourse within a museum, it would be
better to call these “core” exhibitions.
From a design point of view this type of exhibitions should use approaches that will not tire the visitor, that will not quickly look old-fashioned, and should use materials that will endure time.
In fact, nowadays there are a number of mainly smaller sized museums that do not have or aim to have “permanent” exhibitions, but instead take the opportunity to present different themes and collections using longer-term exhibitions that may last perhaps one to three years (as with the Museum of Popular Cultures in Mexico City.)
As for what a “temporary” exhibition means, Belcher divides these into:
Medium term or longer-term exhibitions can be very successful.
They do not have the constraint of needing to follow the museum´s overall display policy and storyline, and they offer visitors the chance to see something new within a specific time span.
Other common mode includes:
TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS that may be as simple as a single object or group of objects through to “blockbusters” costing millions of dollars to research, assemble and tour.
This very wide category also includes exhibitions that are designed and circulated in buses, trucks or trains.
In general, travelling exhibitions aim to offer the opportunity to see them to a greater and more diverse population, in different locations.
Because of its nature, the design of the travelling exhibition needs to take several issues into account, including the need for flexibility in terms of layout, etc., so that it can be fitted into different sizes and shapes of exhibition gallery, and ease of erection, maintenance and mounting and dismounting, as well as ease of transportation between venues.
The Object: Interpretation Within the Exhibition Context
When we stand before a showcase and look at the objects inside it, they will impact on us in different ways.
They may arouse interest, attract or repulse us, please us, or make us want to know more about what is shown.
But objects do not communicate by themselves. They need the interpretative support that curators, educators and designers give them. By these means a far larger group of people, most of whom will probably not be specialists in the subject, will be able to understand and appreciate them.
In the exhibition context interpretation means the group of actions and elements that help explain the content of the exhibition.
Curators who carry out the necessary research for an exhibition and the designer who interprets and communicates this interpret the group of objects and the knowledge and information that they represent for the benefit of a larger audience.
The way that this is achieved and how real objects convey meanings or become significant to their audience is part of communication, and the techniques of modern communication science including semiotics and psychology are now applied as part of a design process.
We know that an object has different meanings according to the context in which it is located, its relations with other objects, the position where it is displayed, the colors that surround it and even the labels that are used.
Exhibition Management in Relation to Other Museum Activities
Planning, designing and producing an exhibition, either a complete gallery or one individual showcase, depends on effective teamwork.
What we see when we enter an exhibition gallery of a museum is the end product of a long chain of linked organized processes and activities carried out sometimes in sequence and sometimes simultaneously.
Exhibitions must be managed in the same way as any other activity within the museum.
Thorough planning, scheduling and budgeting are nowadays as important a part of exhibition work as designing the exhibition itself; good management and the effective use of resources (including staff) facilitates rather than inhibits good exhibition design.
Who is or should be the Exhibition Project Manager?
The size of the museum and, in particular, the number and availability of staff and their specialisms affects this.
If the museum has the necessary professional and managerial expertise in-house, either the curator or the designer might also act as Exhibition Project Manager, while in a small museum, the Director will, almost certainly, also take on this responsibility.
Design: The Basic Planning and Designing Process
The development of an exhibition concept is a complex process. This section aims to describe in a clear and simple way, the main management and development steps in creating a good display or exhibition.
These processes are basically the same regardless of size or subject.
The Five Stages in the Design Process
Planning
Planning has been heavily researched and analyzed by academics, managers and designers. It has adopted methods and systems from other disciplines, particularly architecture, industrial process management and computer programming.
Exhibition planning can be defined as the activities that will help
(a) determine the aims and feasibility of the desired project,
(b) organize the exhibition process taking into account available human, technical and economic resources as well as timelines and cost estimates.
Objectives
Objectives of the Display or Exhibition
This first issue is of the highest importance since it will guide all aspects of the exhibition. The “whole design” concept focuses on what we want to achieve with the exhibition.
for example:
do we want to enhance the aesthetic features of the objects in the exhibition?
or do we want to assess and communicate their scientific or historical importance?
In the first case, our goal is to deliver an aesthetic and enjoyable experience to the audience, whereas in the second, the aim is a more educational one.
Target Audience
Knowing the audience is something that modern museum practice considers absolutely basic in relation to almost any kind of museum activity, and especially so in relation to displays and exhibitions.
In addition to the necessary understanding of the museum’s community, when developing an exhibition project it is also advisable to identify the target group or groups in relation to relevant factors, taking into account the fact that any audience is made up of many and varied types of individuals, with differences in ages, levels of education, tastes and interests.
For example, though most of the time a “general” museum will want exhibitions designed for what is usually called the “general public” – probably adults with the average level of education and literacy for that country or town, in other cases they may want to give special attention to poorly educated adult individuals, perhaps using very short and clear labels with drawn or other visual explanations.
The responsive museum must therefore decide on, for example, the expected reading and other communication levels, and the degree to which the visitor may have prior knowledge of the subject.
Feasibility
Exhibitions, as any other museum programme, must undergo a thorough study of the possibilities before the final policy decisions are taken.
Exhibitions are the material outcome of a combination of many diverse skills, and much knowledge, expertise and experience, coupled with taste and even sensibility. The participation of different specialists will be necessary to achieve this, but not necessarily from the beginning.
It is advisable to start the planning activity with a basic or core working team that will include the specialist curator or curators, the
designer, the conservator and the education officer. Within this small group, a coordinator will be assigned as Exhibition Project Manager. In this initial stage, tasks will be assigned to each member according to their expertise.
Likely make-up of the exhibition project team, (what designers call the “exhibition team”, “exhibition committee” or “work group”)
This is likely to include some or all of the following categories of staff (or outside consultants), depending on the size and nature of the proposed exhibition or new display:
Administrative
Board Members
Director
Project Manager
Craftspeople
Preparators
Electrician
Mounting team etc.
Security Engineer
Professional
Curator(s)
Conservator
Designer(s)
Education Specialist
Technicians
Photographer
Lighting Engineer
Sound Engineer
Creating a Planing Brief
The Planning Brief for a display or exhibition aims to help the exhibition process by clarifying goals, the exhibition concept, time schedules and the human and financial resources needed.
It is also most useful in presenting the project before decision makers, patrons or Boards and is also a basic tool for fund raising.
Typically the following will need to contribute to the development of the planning brief, and all subsequent stages in the exhibition process:
Typical Responsibilities of the Curator in Relation to Exhibition Development
Primarily the curator’s duties are to:
However, this needs to be a team effort, and it is advisable that the following team members should also participate with the curator(s):
Exhibition Systems
Many big and well-financed museums have flexible standardized, often modular, exhibition and display systems including showcases, movable walls and display screens and panels which allow multiple use and in different ways.
On the other hand, for special occasions or particular requirements, specially designed and constructed exhibition designed systems and furniture may be needed or desired. These may be produced in-house or be contracted out.
Small museums may find it easier to have their basic exhibition cases made in-house or by local contractors though, with a view to their eventual re-use in other displays or exhibitions. If designed correctly, there is no reason why these cannot be used several times over.
The other basic design goal is to find the right balance between objects and their designed setting, which should never be more prominent than the objects themselves.
It is extremely important to underline consideration of three vital elements in the design process.
The first is the importance of preventive conservation. The specialist conservator’s presence during the whole designing process, closely advising the designers and preparators, is essential for a truly successful exhibition.
Second, we can never overestimate security and conservation requirements for objects on display and while being handled in transit to the display, whether this is just a few meters from the museum storage to the display case, or half way round the world in the case of an important object borrowed for a major temporary exhibition.
The third is the need to take into account future exhibition maintenance when preparing the design, remembering that circulation and resting areas have to be cleaned as well as the showcases.
The Design Process
Using the storyboard as a guide, the designer should then proceed to:
Evaluate and allocate exhibition space according to storyboard themes and other visual and communication needs
Determine circulation space needed, including disabled access requirements, security needs and official legal norms such as fire escapes
Examine and distribute objects by units, sections, subsections that correspond to themes and sub-themes in the script and storyboard
Consult the conservator or curator on every collection-related issue
Consult education specialists for information level and educational structure of the story line
Production and Materials
It is the manufacturing or fabrication processes of the different elements that in the end create an exhibition.
These can be divided into building work and specialized production. The first covers such activities as masonry and brickwork, plaster work, basic electrical, video and audio installation, wiring and fixed furniture manufacturing, while the second includes more specialized work such as graphics, reconstructions, model-making, artwork, etc.
Main Elements of Production Work
Building works
Specialized Work
Completing the Exhibition
Once all building work, electrical wiring, decorating, wall, floor platform and panel fixing, and fixed showcase assembly has been completed the free-standing showcases and wall-mounted furniture and exhibit structures are put into place.
The working area then has to be thoroughly cleaned, including the glass or acrylic glazing for cases and other display units, and the lighting is tested.
Then the fixing of title panels, other text and graphic units, illustrations and photographs can be carried out by the design team or contractor, after which the installation of the original objects by the curators or conservators can begin.
Finally, the curator, conservator, education specialist, designer and any other specialists, and usually the director also, review the display or exhibition and approve the final result.
After this the showcases are closed and there is a further full cleaning of the exhibition space ready for the opening to the public.
Evaluating the Finished Exhibition
It is most advisable that each new display or major temporary exhibition be evaluated using recognized methods. Most rely on evaluation as soon as possible after the opening: this will identify quickly any major mistakes or problems, such as circulation difficulties so that necessary modifications can be carried out.
Exhibition and Museum Communication and Education
The public displays and exhibitions are the museum’s most important means of communication.
Its potential and capacity for communication is therefore the major issue to keep in mind when planning and designing an exhibition, whatever the theme, mode or type.
A good designer will seek to enhance communication by creating attractive displays that place the emphasis on the desired highlights in terms of the objectives of the exhibition, often by drawing on experience from theater illumination techniques. The aim throughout must be to motivate the visitor and enhance curiosity.
Museum: An Etymology
The English "museum" comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as "museums" (or rarely, "musea"). It is originally from the Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseion), which denotes a place or temple dedicated to the Muses (the patron divinities in Greek mythology of the arts), and hence a building set apart for study and the arts.
What is a Museum?
"an institution devoted to the procurement, care, study, and display of objects of lasting interest or value; also : a place where objects are exhibited;"
Merriam – Webster Dictionary
"A non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment."
International Council of Museums
The Role of Museums
Museums look after the world’s cultural property and interpret it to the public. It is part of the world’s natural and cultural heritage and may be of a tangible or intangible character.
Cultural property also often provides the primary evidence in a number of subject disciplines, such as archaeology and the natural sciences, and therefore represents an important contribution to knowledge.
It is also a significant component in defining cultural identity, nationally and internationally.
Historical Background to Collecting
Collections of objects brought together because they have personal or collective associations occur in remote antiquity. Grave goods found with Paleolithic burials provide evidence of this.
Grave goods found with Paleolithic burials provide evidence of this. However, development towards the museum idea occurs early in the second millennium BCE at Larsa in Mesopotamia where copies of old inscriptions were reproduced for educational use in the schools there.
The votive offerings housed in the temples, sometimes in specially built treasuries, were normally open to the public, often on payment of a small fee.They included works of art, natural curiosities as well as exotic items brought from far-flung parts of the empire but were primarily a religious provision.
In medieval Europe, collections were mainly the prerogative of princely houses and the church. Such collections had an economic importance and would be used to finance wars and other state expenses.
The First Public Museums
Encyclopedic museums
It is in the encyclopedic spirit of the so-called European Enlightenment that public museums emerge.
This was based largely on the eclectic collections, from many parts of the world, Brought together by the Tradescant family and previously displayed to the public at their home in London.
The Ashmolean Museum, opened by the University of Oxford in 1683, is generally considered to be the first museum established by a public body for the public benefit.
Society museums
Learned societies were also among the early originators of public museums. This was particularly so in Asia.
The Central Museum of Indonesian Culture and Indian Museum in Calcutta were considered as first established Society Museums in the world.
Both museums covered the arts and sciences and were concerned with furthering knowledge about their respective countries.
National Museums
The role of the museum in contributing to national consciousness and identity developed initially in Europe and with this the recognition that museums were the appropriate institutions for the preservation of a nation’s historic heritage.
Specialized Museums
The decline in popularity among encyclopedic museums in the nineteenth century paved the way to the establishment of specialized national museums.
General and Local Museums
These developed from the collections of private benefactors and societies particularly from the mid-nineteenth century.
The encyclopedic idea, expressed now in general museums, remains a characteristic of many regional and local museums.
Open Air museums
An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors.
A new type of museum emerged in Sweden in 1872 to preserve aspects of the traditional folk-life of the nation with the creation of the Nordiska Museet at Stockholm.
Working Museums
Other museums have developed workshops where traditional crafts can be demonstrated and sometimes exploited commercially for the benefit of the museum.
Site museums
Where the site is being preserved in its own right, as with archaeological sites and areas of natural habitat, different criteria apply.
Virtual museums
For this purpose the opportunity to bring together digital images, particularly from diverse sources, in order to present and interpret the cultural and natural heritage and to communicate this to wider audiences must now be regarded an important role for museums.
Lesson Topic 2: Collections Management
Collections Management
Just as museum management is vitally important for the development and organization of the museum, so is collections management vital to the development, organization and preservation of the collection each museum curates.
COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT is the term applied to the various legal, ethical, technical and practical methods by which museum collections are assembled, organized, researched, interpreted and preserved.
It focuses on the care of collections with concern for their long term physical well – being and safety.
It is concerned with issues on preservation, use of collections and record keeping, as well as how the collections support the museum’s mission and purpose.
Collections Management is also vital in order to make the most of the always limited resources of time, money, equipment, materials physical space and staff.
Three inter – related elements of collections Management
Registration of Collections
Provides baseline institutional accountability for the many and various artifacts, specimen, samples and documents that the museum holds in trust for current and future generations of humanity.
Preservation of Collections
An important, active aspect of collections management that underlies other museum activities.
Providing controlled access to collections
Through exhibit or research, it fulfills the museum’s mission to educate and interpret while protecting collections at the same time.
Collections Management Policy
In order for collections management to function successfully, decisions about museum’s collections must always be made after careful consideration and in a consistent way.
Good decision – making is founded in good POLICY.
For this reason, the most important museum collections document is the:
Collections Management Policy
Developing a Collections Management Policy
Before you begin to develop a collection management policy statement, several factors should be addressed and incorporated.
Developing and drafting policy is an opportunity to review and set down museum’s goals and how they are achieved if this has been not done.
All staff members should be invited to contribute at this stage.
Managing the Museum
An effective museum service requires the confidence of the public it serves.
All responsible for the care and interpretation of any aspect of the world’s tangible and intangible cultural inheritance, whether at local or national level, need to foster this confidence.
Premises
To undertake the museum function requires adequate premises with a suitable environment to fulfill the basic functions defined in the governing body’s mission. A museum and its collections should be available to all during reasonable hours and for regular periods with appropriate standards to ensure the health, safety, and accessibility of its visitors and personnel.
Security
The nature of museum collections requires that the governing body provides appropriate security to protect the collections against theft or damage in displays, exhibitions, working or storage areas, and while in transit.
Funding
It is the governing body’s responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient funds to carry out and develop the activities of the museum.
These funds may be from the public sector, from private sources or generated through the museum’s own activities.
There should be a written policy of acceptable practice for all funding sources and all funds must be accounted for in a professional manner.
Personnel
The museum’s personnel are an important resource.
The governing body should ensure that all action concerning its personnel is taken in accordance with the policies of the museum as well as the proper and legal procedures in force locally.
Making and Maintaining Collections
Acquisitions policy
Museums have the duty to acquire, preserve and promote their collections. These collections are a significant public inheritance and those involved with them hold positions of public trust.
Ownership
No object or specimen should be acquired, whether by purchase, gift, loan, bequest or exchange, unless the acquiring museum is satisfied that valid title of ownership is held.
Evidence of lawful ownership in a country is not necessarily valid title.
Every effort must, therefore, be made before acquisition to ensure that the object or specimen has not been illegally obtained in or exported from, its country of origin or any intermediate country in which it might have been owned legally.
Associated Information
The context and associations of an object or specimen are also important as this often provides information which greatly enhances knowledge of the item.
In the same way, acquisition should not occur if there has been a failure to disclose the finds to the owner or occupier of the land, or to the proper legal or governmental authorities.
There will be instances where a museum may have to act as an authorized repository for unprovenanced, illicitly collected or recovered specimens and objects from the territory over which it has lawful responsibility.
Lesson Topic 3: Inventories and Documentation
Acquisitions, Long-term loans and Accessioning
The accessioning process supports the incorporation of permanent acquisitions and long-term loans into the museum collection.
This is a key stage in the overall documentation of the collection, recording the legal evidence for the ownership of the items in the collection and providing the starting point for the fuller cataloging of individual items.
The museum should develop a framework where proposed acquisitions and long-term loans are referred to an internal committee for approval, rather than being accepted by an individual member of staff.
When the museum becomes aware of an acquisition or loan, it should start to develop a file with information about the owner and the objects.
This file should include:
↗ summary sheet - with entries about the source,
↗ outline of the objects,
↗ their significance to the museum,
↗ The proposed acquisition method, (e.g. gift, purchase, excavation)
↗ how the proposal conforms to the museum’s collecting policy,
↗ the recommendations of the curator and other specialist staff
↗ the decision of the committee.
The outline of the objects should include an authentication of their origin and an assessment of their condition.
If possible, the museum should produce a photograph or digital image of the objects.
In the case of an acquisition, if this is approved, the owner should be asked to sign a formal legal transfer of ownership of the objects (a ‘transfer of title’).
The signed copy of this document should then be added to the file, as an essential confirmation of the legal status of the acquisition.
If the museum regularly receives groups of objects, it can be more efficient to treat the overall group as a single acquisition, rather than processing each item as an acquisition.
The overall acquisition then has one file and an overall group accession number.
The individual objects within the group can be given separate object numbers, which are either subdivisions of the accession number or independent of the accession number.
If the museum is going to be the repository for all the finds from an excavation, it should discuss with the excavator the possibility of the museum and the excavator having a common numbering approach.
It may be possible for the museum to assign an accession number to the overall excavation, which is then used in the field recording system from the start of the excavation.
This approach would enable the museum to avoid the need to renumber and mark the individual objects and would assist the incorporation of the collection and the excavation records into the museum.
In addition to the accession files, the museum should maintain an accession register, with a checklist of all the acquisitions.
The register should ideally be a hardback volume, with archival quality paper.
It should have columns for:
Accession number;
Date;
Source;
Method;
Brief description of the group;
Number of objects making up the group and;
The name or initials of the museum curator.
This should be kept in a secure location, such as a fire-proof safe. If possible, keep a copy of the register at another location.
In the case of a long-term loan, the museum should also record the reason for the loan and the duration of the agreement.
Many museums are reluctant to accept long-term loans, unless the object is to be used in a gallery display or for extended research, because of the work involved in caring for objects.
If the loan is approved, it should be finalized in a written loan agreement, which should then be kept on file.
Inventory Control And Cataloging
The second stage in the museum’s documentation system is the development and use of information about the individual objects in the collection.
The museum should aim to establish records about each of the items in the collection and continue to extend these records as the objects are examined and used.
The records can be used as the basis for research, public access, display, education, collection development, collections management and security.
In order to support this range of uses, the records need to be consistently structured into discrete categories or fields, each of which can hold a specific piece of information.
Object Numbering, Labeling and Marking
It is important to assign a unique number to each object and to relate this to the object by either writing it on a label associated with the object or marking it on the object itself (International Council of Museums, International Committee for Documentation, 1994).
The object number provides the link between the object and its documentation and can be invaluable if the object is stolen or misplaced.
If the object is made up of two or more parts, it is important to label or mark each part, in case they become separated, such as on display or during conservation.
The parts can be given separate part numbers, formed by subdividing the object number.
Location and Movement Control
It is essential that all changes of storage location are carefully tracked. This enables the museum to quickly find an object and helps reduce the chance of objects being misplaced or being stolen without the museum being aware of the loss.
Conservation Information and Condition Reports
If the object is conserved, a reference to the conservation work should be incorporated in the catalog record.
If there are fuller details about the process, it may be most efficient to hold these in a separate file, linked to the catalog record via a Conservation Reference Number.
Deaccessioning and Disposal
If the object is removed from the collection, it is essential that information about the removal is added to the catalog record.
The overall catalog record should be retained, so that the museum has evidence of the fate of the object.
As with a new acquisition, the proposed de-acquisition should be referred to an internal committee for approval.
Manual and Computer-based Cataloging and Retrieval
The catalog information can either be recorded in a manual system or a computer-based system.
The preferred approach depends on the museum’s expertise and resources.
The most effective approach in a manual system is to design record cards or sheets, with spaces for the different fields listed.
Images
Photographic images, digital images and scientific drawings of the collection are a valuable resource, both for internal reference purposes and for use by researchers and the public.
For example, they can be shown to law officers and customs officials and the media if an object is stolen and they can be added to the Web if the collection is put on-line.
Excerpts from Podcast 1 - 5 on Textile Conservation
- Boxes that are made from acid – free materials are the most common type of storage materials for textiles.
- Normally these boxes are PH – balanced or neutral PH level.
- Buffered tissue paper are made with calcium carbonate component which prevents the development of acidity on porous materials or materials that are derived from plants and other organic materials - cannot be used in wool and silk.
- Unbuffered tissue can be used for both wool, silk and animal fiber and cotton and linen plant fibers.
- Buffering textile would prevent the development of knife – edge creases that would cut or destroy the fabric.
- Batting and felt can be spun - bonded or needle punched
- Colored tissue as buffer is not advised since colored tissue might transfer it colored pigment to the fabric.
- Un-dyed muslin or fabrics should be washed using Orvus W.A paste prior to use.
- Box storage is an effective way of blocking dirt and light and saving storage space.
- Boxes with plastic windows are not advisable. Once punctured, insect infestation might take place or agents of deterioration might get in.
- Boxes are the only way to store costumes that are too fragile to be hang.
- There are three (3) types of plastic materials that are suitable for long term storage. These are polyester, polypropylene and polyethylene.
- Wooden hanger is not advisable to hang costume since it off - gas harmful materials.
- One disadvantage of using plastic box for storage is that it will melt in extreme temperatures.
- The following are the types of costumes that are not suitable for hanging: Heavily beaded, structurally unsound, knitted item and bias - cut costumes.
- Overall goal of stuffing garment to support it along fold lines to prevent them from fossilizing into knife - edge creases.
- Acid free tissue can be used as a sling.
- Properly storing costumes in boxes is a time consuming process but its a great way of to protect them for the long term.
- box storage benefits: boxes can be stacked for increased storage, boxes block out dirt and light, boxes protect against insect infestation and boxes can contain multiple quilts.
- Rolled storage benefits: prevents creasing of textiles and allows for storage of textiles that are too big or thick for box storage.
- Fragile textiles can be safely wrapped around the tube.
- Rolling fabrics prevents the development of creases of textile.
- It’s also a convenient alternative for textiles that are big or too thick to fold.
- Storage materials that are made of PVC is harmful to costumes because of off gassing.
Lesson Topic 4: Care and Preservation of Collections
Care and Preservation of Collections
Introduction to Collection Preservation
Conservation and preservation literature can often seem to be dominated by huge (and ultimately unachievable) lists of things to do.
One can become so busy following parts of this good advice that there is never time to stand back to see if this really is the best way to achieve the fundamental objective of preserving the collection.
This chapter therefore adopts a recently developed way of viewing the preservation and conservation of collections as a whole, before focusing in on the details.
At the same time, collection preservation remains an intensely practical business in which detailed practical advice is needed alongside this new way of thinking.
Deciding Priorities and Assessing Risks
Fundamentally, all heritage preservation, including that relating to museum collections, relies on two stages of decision-making:
- Selection: what can and should be preserved within the resources available to the museum
- Assessing and managing risks: using human and other resources to reduce future damage.
In both small and large museums, most of the collection arrived long before the current staff.
Decisions on acquiring new objects are often disconnected from those who understand special preservation requirements, though increasingly museum acquisition policies call for a condition and conservation assessment before purchasing additional items or accepting donations.
These facts create two of the fundamental problems of collection preservation.
There is constant pressure on storage leading to less than ideal storage and study space and therefore overcrowding.
Classifying Risks to Collections
There are many different ways to classify and list the potential causes of loss and damage to collections.
When trying to understand and plan preservation, however, it does help to choose a single viewpoint of these causes and then to apply it consistently.
It is also important that the list of causes be complete, so that in the work of preserving the collections, one do not forget something.
Refer to Photos Section for the Table of the Nine Agents of Deterioration
The Collection Preservation Cycle
- Preservation of collections is an endless process.
- Activities can be generalized as a cycle that repeats.
Who takes the preservation leadership roles?
Traditionally, museums have fragmented the preservation cycle, especially larger museums.
Much of the reorganization of museums in the last 20 years has centralized collections preservation responsibilities under a Collections Management Department or Unit. Within it, there may or may not be Conservation Department.
Other Types of Conservation Survey
Development of a special survey forms that allow standardized information to be collected across many museums in a region that would lead to the development of “Best Practices” among museums in the region or country.
A more traditional type of conservation survey is the collection survey.
The purpose of such surveys is an assessment of the degree of damage of each artifact.
Information may also be collected on an estimate of restoration work necessary for each damaged artifact, and even on such work previously executed.
Where is Conservation and Restoration in all this?
Conservation emphasizes treatments that clean, stabilize, and strengthen the artifact.
Conservators recognized the need to prevent new damage, and discovered that prevention methods could be applied across whole collections.
This is called “preventive conservation”.
For large museums, there may well be a Conservation Department which performs all these functions, and which can also take the lead responsibility for the preservation ideas.
In small and medium size museums, conservation is available only by contract of an independent specialist, or in many countries, by a state sponsored conservation facility.
Step 1: Check the basics - A list of the basics
In giving advice to museums about preservation of collections over many years, one does indeed discover that most of the preservation is achieved by a short list of recommendations, which we can call “The basic preservation strategies” or just “The basics”.
So, before proceeding to the refinements of risk management, it is useful to check the basics first.
Why are these so basic?
The basic items in the list can reduce many different risks at once, often at low cost, or they reduce a single catastrophic risk that could affect all the collections and perhaps the museum itself.
In the case of the first two (roofs, walls etc.) they do both. Reliable roof and walls block all nine agents of deterioration, not always perfectly, but always to a large extent.
The Basic Collection Preservation Strategies
Basic strategies that address all or many agents at once:
- A reliable roof. Reliable against local precipitation, covering all organic artifacts (and preferably most inorganic artifacts.) While this is obvious to even people outside museums, it also applies to large objects, such as historic vehicles, or historic machines with paint. They cannot be expected to survive many years if exposed to sun and weather.
- Reliable walls, windows and doors that block local weather, local pests, amateur thieves and vandals.
- Reasonable order and cleanliness in storage and displays. The word “reasonable” is crucial. It does not mean spend most of your time on obsessive neatness, which provides very little benefit, and can even be counterproductive. It means keeping sufficient order that objects are not crushing each other, that inspection and surveys are easy, that objects are raised off the floor, and that object retrieval is easy. It means sufficiently clean that pests are not given habitats, that metals do not accumulate corrosive dust, and that porous and difficult to clean artifacts are not soiled.
- An up-to-date catalog of the collections, with location of artifacts, and photographs at least adequate for identification of the object if stolen, and preferably adequate for identification of new damage.
- Inspection of collections on a regular basis, in storage and in exhibits. This becomes especially important in museums that have limited resources for other strategies of preservation. The time period between inspections should be no less than the time it takes insect pests to mature from eggs (approximately 3 weeks for the clothes moth). Inspect not only for new damage, new signs of risks, but also for thefts.
- Bags, envelopes, or encapsulation used wherever necessary. Except where other rigid boxes are already provided, this includes all small and fragile objects, all objects easily damaged by water, all objects easily attacked by local pollution, all objects easily attacked by insects. These enclosures must be at least dust-proof, preferably airtight, waterproof, pest resistant. Transparent polyethylene or polyester is the most reliable, such as food quality bags (e.g. “Zip-Loc” TM). There is a large literature on details of these methods for textiles, archives, coins, etc.
- Strong, inert backing boards for all delicate flat objects, to support, and to block many agents from behind. This includes manuscripts, paintings on canvas, paintings on paper and board, wall maps, stretched textiles, photographic prints, (both in storage and on display). For any that have front surfaces vulnerable to pollution or water or vandalism, provide protection by glass.
- Staff and volunteers are committed to preservation, are informed and appropriately trained. Basic strategies that address a single agent that is a high risk to most or all of the collection.
- Locks on all doors and windows. These should be at least as secure as an average local home, and preferably much better.
- A detection system for thieves (human or electronic) that has a response time less than the time it takes an amateur to break the locks or windows. If not possible, the most valuable artifacts are stored in another, more secure location, when the museum is unoccupied.
- All problems of sustained damp are addressed quickly. Damp is a rapid and aggressive agent, causing many risks, such as mold, corrosion, and gross distortion. Unlike fire, floods, and insects, it is so common it is often tolerated. The two usual sources of damp are small water leaks and condensation due to large changes in temperature drops (as at night). Move the collection away from the damp. Fix the water leak. Ventilate against condensation.
- No intense light, no direct sunlight, no powerful electric light, on any colored artifacts, unless one is sure the color has zero sensitivity to light, e.g., fired ceramics, fired glass enamels.
Step 2: Survey the risks. When to start doing a survey, and how long will it take?
To identify risks to the collection, one can just react to situations as they arise. (fix things that needs to be fixed)
An alternative would be to begin immediately with a systematic survey, which will uncover the basics as well as the not so basic.
A simple survey of a small museum might take one experienced person three days, a detailed survey of a large museum may take several people several months.
Whether the survey is a simple one, looking for high priority risks, or whether it is a detailed one looking for all risks, large and small, the guiding principle is “systematic and comprehensive”.
In summary, a simple survey is better than no survey.
Soon is better than never.
The crucial aspect is to step back from your job, from your normal preservation activities, and look at your museum and its collections with open eyes, looking for anything that could possibly cause damage.
What exactly am I looking for?
It needs common sense, reasonable intelligence, and good eyesight. It helps to have a feeling for the material world, to be what some might call a practical person, but it also helps to be imaginative, since one must imagine everything that might go wrong.
It also helps to have a love for the collection, since that usually brings both a detailed familiarity and a strong concern for the collection’s safety.
Collecting FACTS in order to Predict Risks
The surveyor begins by collecting many facts, motivated entirely by the next step, which is to predict all the potential risks to the collections.
The surveyor then predicts specific risks. Each specific risk is predicted by imagining a specific scenario of possible loss or damage, implied by each survey fact, or possibly implied by several linked facts.
Sources of facts: Visible and Invisible
A risk assessment survey relies on two sources of facts, and it reduces time and effort if one approaches each separately.
Visible facts
This is the part of the survey where we look with our own eyes, and make observations.
One look at the site, the building, the rooms, the furniture, and the collections.
Invisible facts
This is the part of the survey that considers prior history of the museum, current staff activities, procedures, attitudes, planning, as well as many external sources of data needed for risk estimation
(e.g. flood data, earthquake data, light sensitivity data, etc.)
It is easier, though not essential, to keep these parts of the survey separate, simply because the visible part involves walking around the museum, inspecting things, taking notes, taking photographs, whereas the invisible part involves talking to staff and researching relevant documents.
Visible or Invisible: Which should come first?
It is not critical which part is done first, but it is useful to have a general understanding of museum mandate, preservation policies, old planning documents, before surveying the museum.
Step 3: Plan Improvements to Collection Risk Management
Five stages of Collection Risk Reduction
All the very many, perhaps thousands, of ways that museums reduce collection risks can be subdivided into five stages: avoid, block, detect, respond, recover.
- Avoid sources and attractants of the agent.
- Block all access and paths for the agent (since sometimes step 1 fails).
- Detect the agent in the museum (since sometimes steps 1 and 2 fail).
- Respond to the agent after presuming, or detecting its presence (otherwise step 3 is pointless).
- Recover from the agent’s effects on the collections (conserve artifacts, and reconsider what went wrong and plan improvements).
The first four stages are prevention of damage. The last stage is remedial conservation and restoration, necessary only because the preventive stages failed.
Common-sense, good house-keeping, but there are complications...
Many authors have noted that the strategies of traditional good house-keeping” resemble good collection preservation.
In other words, a lot of preservation is common sense. In fact, the “list of the basics” presented earlier would be very familiar to a housekeeper a hundred years ago.
On the other hand, some habits of housekeeping can damage the museum collections.
For example, if nearby deserts, or dusty roads, deposit a layer of fine mineral powder on collections, then cleaning the artifacts regularly would seem like a good idea. Unfortunately, two problems arise: abrasion, and snagging.
Snagging occurs with complex objects. It especially occurs with styles of furniture that use elaborate fretwork and inlays, common in Islamic decorative arts. The dust cloth or feather duster snags fragments that have curled or partially delaminated, and flings them somewhere far away!
A second complication seen repeatedly in museums with a dust problem is water damage.
The most common form of institutional floor cleaning, inside and outside, observed in all the hot regions of the world East to West, appears to be mopping with copious amounts of water, often thrown in puddles on the floor, either early morning before the museum opens, or immediately after closing.
Evaluating Artifact Storage
A box of military badges and textile insignia, without identification or separation from each other, in a small Canadian museum.
A box of military badges and textile insignia, each in an individual polyethylene "zip-loc" bag, most with identification cards inside, in a small Canadian museum.
Relative Humidity
Relative humidity is a relationship between the volume of air and the amount of water vapor it holds at a given temperature.
Relative humidity is important because water plays a role in various chemical and physical forms of deterioration.
All organic materials and some inorganic materials absorb and give off water depending on the relative humidity of the surrounding air.
Metal objects will corrode faster at higher relative humidity. Pests are more active at higher relative humidities.
Lesson Topic 5: Display, Exhibits and Exhibitions
Most people who go to museums do so with the idea of visiting the exhibition halls, and will even try to see all of them in a single visit, which is certainly not advisable.
Concentrating on just one particular gallery or even a very specific object in a single visit can often be much more enjoyable and satisfying.
The public displays and exhibitions are by far the most popular parts of most museums.
It is here that a direct contact between the visitor and the museum’s collections takes place.
It is here where any individual, regardless of age, social and economic status, alone or as part of a group, has the opportunity and space to see the “real object”, and with the help of certain exhibition techniques to communicate or interact with it.
There are several definitions of the words display, exhibit and exhibition.
One leading dictionary, the Webster Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language, defines display as “to show, to make apparent to the eye or the mind”, exhibition as “showing of works of art” while exhibit is described as “to present to view, to display”.
Definitions of the three terms vary according to country and language: in Spanish all three are synonyms, while in French and English they have slight or definitive different meanings.
There are also subtle differences in definition and usage between North American English and that of Britain and most other Anglophone countries.
Types of Displays
Exhibitions are classified according to different criteria. Belcher (1997) gives several approaches to exhibition types and discusses among other things the much used term “permanent exhibition”, saying: “Permanent”, meaning long term as opposed to “temporary”.
This type of exhibition is expected to last from ten to fifteen years. Herreman propose redefining what used to be called “permanent exhibitions”
According to him. since these are planned as part of a core concept structure, storyline or discourse within a museum, it would be
better to call these “core” exhibitions.
From a design point of view this type of exhibitions should use approaches that will not tire the visitor, that will not quickly look old-fashioned, and should use materials that will endure time.
In fact, nowadays there are a number of mainly smaller sized museums that do not have or aim to have “permanent” exhibitions, but instead take the opportunity to present different themes and collections using longer-term exhibitions that may last perhaps one to three years (as with the Museum of Popular Cultures in Mexico City.)
As for what a “temporary” exhibition means, Belcher divides these into:
- “short term” - that last from one to three months “medium term” - three to six months; and
- “long-term” - which are expected to last for an indefinite period.
Medium term or longer-term exhibitions can be very successful.
They do not have the constraint of needing to follow the museum´s overall display policy and storyline, and they offer visitors the chance to see something new within a specific time span.
Other common mode includes:
TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS that may be as simple as a single object or group of objects through to “blockbusters” costing millions of dollars to research, assemble and tour.
This very wide category also includes exhibitions that are designed and circulated in buses, trucks or trains.
In general, travelling exhibitions aim to offer the opportunity to see them to a greater and more diverse population, in different locations.
Because of its nature, the design of the travelling exhibition needs to take several issues into account, including the need for flexibility in terms of layout, etc., so that it can be fitted into different sizes and shapes of exhibition gallery, and ease of erection, maintenance and mounting and dismounting, as well as ease of transportation between venues.
The Object: Interpretation Within the Exhibition Context
When we stand before a showcase and look at the objects inside it, they will impact on us in different ways.
They may arouse interest, attract or repulse us, please us, or make us want to know more about what is shown.
But objects do not communicate by themselves. They need the interpretative support that curators, educators and designers give them. By these means a far larger group of people, most of whom will probably not be specialists in the subject, will be able to understand and appreciate them.
In the exhibition context interpretation means the group of actions and elements that help explain the content of the exhibition.
Curators who carry out the necessary research for an exhibition and the designer who interprets and communicates this interpret the group of objects and the knowledge and information that they represent for the benefit of a larger audience.
The way that this is achieved and how real objects convey meanings or become significant to their audience is part of communication, and the techniques of modern communication science including semiotics and psychology are now applied as part of a design process.
We know that an object has different meanings according to the context in which it is located, its relations with other objects, the position where it is displayed, the colors that surround it and even the labels that are used.
Exhibition Management in Relation to Other Museum Activities
Planning, designing and producing an exhibition, either a complete gallery or one individual showcase, depends on effective teamwork.
What we see when we enter an exhibition gallery of a museum is the end product of a long chain of linked organized processes and activities carried out sometimes in sequence and sometimes simultaneously.
Exhibitions must be managed in the same way as any other activity within the museum.
Thorough planning, scheduling and budgeting are nowadays as important a part of exhibition work as designing the exhibition itself; good management and the effective use of resources (including staff) facilitates rather than inhibits good exhibition design.
Who is or should be the Exhibition Project Manager?
The size of the museum and, in particular, the number and availability of staff and their specialisms affects this.
If the museum has the necessary professional and managerial expertise in-house, either the curator or the designer might also act as Exhibition Project Manager, while in a small museum, the Director will, almost certainly, also take on this responsibility.
Design: The Basic Planning and Designing Process
The development of an exhibition concept is a complex process. This section aims to describe in a clear and simple way, the main management and development steps in creating a good display or exhibition.
These processes are basically the same regardless of size or subject.
The Five Stages in the Design Process
- Planning
- Research/Interpretation
- Design
- Production
- Installation
Planning
Planning has been heavily researched and analyzed by academics, managers and designers. It has adopted methods and systems from other disciplines, particularly architecture, industrial process management and computer programming.
Exhibition planning can be defined as the activities that will help
(a) determine the aims and feasibility of the desired project,
(b) organize the exhibition process taking into account available human, technical and economic resources as well as timelines and cost estimates.
Objectives
Objectives of the Display or Exhibition
This first issue is of the highest importance since it will guide all aspects of the exhibition. The “whole design” concept focuses on what we want to achieve with the exhibition.
for example:
do we want to enhance the aesthetic features of the objects in the exhibition?
or do we want to assess and communicate their scientific or historical importance?
In the first case, our goal is to deliver an aesthetic and enjoyable experience to the audience, whereas in the second, the aim is a more educational one.
Target Audience
Knowing the audience is something that modern museum practice considers absolutely basic in relation to almost any kind of museum activity, and especially so in relation to displays and exhibitions.
In addition to the necessary understanding of the museum’s community, when developing an exhibition project it is also advisable to identify the target group or groups in relation to relevant factors, taking into account the fact that any audience is made up of many and varied types of individuals, with differences in ages, levels of education, tastes and interests.
For example, though most of the time a “general” museum will want exhibitions designed for what is usually called the “general public” – probably adults with the average level of education and literacy for that country or town, in other cases they may want to give special attention to poorly educated adult individuals, perhaps using very short and clear labels with drawn or other visual explanations.
The responsive museum must therefore decide on, for example, the expected reading and other communication levels, and the degree to which the visitor may have prior knowledge of the subject.
Feasibility
Exhibitions, as any other museum programme, must undergo a thorough study of the possibilities before the final policy decisions are taken.
Exhibitions are the material outcome of a combination of many diverse skills, and much knowledge, expertise and experience, coupled with taste and even sensibility. The participation of different specialists will be necessary to achieve this, but not necessarily from the beginning.
It is advisable to start the planning activity with a basic or core working team that will include the specialist curator or curators, the
designer, the conservator and the education officer. Within this small group, a coordinator will be assigned as Exhibition Project Manager. In this initial stage, tasks will be assigned to each member according to their expertise.
Likely make-up of the exhibition project team, (what designers call the “exhibition team”, “exhibition committee” or “work group”)
This is likely to include some or all of the following categories of staff (or outside consultants), depending on the size and nature of the proposed exhibition or new display:
Administrative
Board Members
Director
Project Manager
Craftspeople
Preparators
Electrician
Mounting team etc.
Security Engineer
Professional
Curator(s)
Conservator
Designer(s)
Education Specialist
Technicians
Photographer
Lighting Engineer
Sound Engineer
Creating a Planing Brief
The Planning Brief for a display or exhibition aims to help the exhibition process by clarifying goals, the exhibition concept, time schedules and the human and financial resources needed.
It is also most useful in presenting the project before decision makers, patrons or Boards and is also a basic tool for fund raising.
Typically the following will need to contribute to the development of the planning brief, and all subsequent stages in the exhibition process:
- Decision makers, particularly the director and Board or Ministry: for official approval and general administrative support.
- The project manager or general coordinator: coordinates the initial process and acts as a link person between different specialists
- Conservator: advises on general and special conservation requirements;
- Designer: advises on general design and interpretation solutions and on the effective use of space;
- Education specialist: advises on general educational aspects, such as relating the displays to the school curriculum, and communication matters, such as readability in relation to literacy level
- Buildings and Security staff: advise on all aspects of the use of the building including such issues as safe floor loadings, access for equipment and contractors, as well as the safety, access and security aspects of the project
- Administrative or Finance staff: help to prepare a first estimate of costs and labor and monitors the budget throughout the whole process, also contract and purchasing details for all works and supplies, including equipment, materials, outside contractors, freelance or consultant and temporary staff
Typical Responsibilities of the Curator in Relation to Exhibition Development
Primarily the curator’s duties are to:
- Establish concept
- Develop thematic and scientific script
- Select objects or works of art and illustrations
- Carry out or supervise necessary documentation
- Write information panels and label content, and other written information
- Advise designer in developing design storyboard
- Advise designer in developing graphic system design
- Supervise development of graphics
- Supervise construction of support materials
- Supervise installation or mounting of exhibition
- Write the catalog or guide
However, this needs to be a team effort, and it is advisable that the following team members should also participate with the curator(s):
- Specialist external advisers on thematic issues
- Interpretation expert;
- Documentalist;
- Conservator; and a
- Museum educator
- The designers may be invited but may not participate so actively at this early stage.
Exhibition Systems
Many big and well-financed museums have flexible standardized, often modular, exhibition and display systems including showcases, movable walls and display screens and panels which allow multiple use and in different ways.
On the other hand, for special occasions or particular requirements, specially designed and constructed exhibition designed systems and furniture may be needed or desired. These may be produced in-house or be contracted out.
Small museums may find it easier to have their basic exhibition cases made in-house or by local contractors though, with a view to their eventual re-use in other displays or exhibitions. If designed correctly, there is no reason why these cannot be used several times over.
The other basic design goal is to find the right balance between objects and their designed setting, which should never be more prominent than the objects themselves.
It is extremely important to underline consideration of three vital elements in the design process.
The first is the importance of preventive conservation. The specialist conservator’s presence during the whole designing process, closely advising the designers and preparators, is essential for a truly successful exhibition.
Second, we can never overestimate security and conservation requirements for objects on display and while being handled in transit to the display, whether this is just a few meters from the museum storage to the display case, or half way round the world in the case of an important object borrowed for a major temporary exhibition.
The third is the need to take into account future exhibition maintenance when preparing the design, remembering that circulation and resting areas have to be cleaned as well as the showcases.
The Design Process
Using the storyboard as a guide, the designer should then proceed to:
Evaluate and allocate exhibition space according to storyboard themes and other visual and communication needs
Determine circulation space needed, including disabled access requirements, security needs and official legal norms such as fire escapes
Examine and distribute objects by units, sections, subsections that correspond to themes and sub-themes in the script and storyboard
Consult the conservator or curator on every collection-related issue
Consult education specialists for information level and educational structure of the story line
Production and Materials
It is the manufacturing or fabrication processes of the different elements that in the end create an exhibition.
These can be divided into building work and specialized production. The first covers such activities as masonry and brickwork, plaster work, basic electrical, video and audio installation, wiring and fixed furniture manufacturing, while the second includes more specialized work such as graphics, reconstructions, model-making, artwork, etc.
Main Elements of Production Work
Building works
- Spaces. Walls, partitions or ceilings, if required by the storyboard, within the assigned exhibition area;
- Physical preparation of exhibition space: plaster work, painting, electrical installation. Conservation counsel is advised;
- Carpentry and plastics;
- Furniture and any supporting element;
- Glass and acrylic elements for showcases;
Specialized Work
- Graphics: charts, maps, drawings, labels, display unit titles
- Reproductions and replicas
- Models and dioramas
- Walk-through sets and reconstructions
- Period rooms
- Costume mannequins
- Object supports
Completing the Exhibition
Once all building work, electrical wiring, decorating, wall, floor platform and panel fixing, and fixed showcase assembly has been completed the free-standing showcases and wall-mounted furniture and exhibit structures are put into place.
The working area then has to be thoroughly cleaned, including the glass or acrylic glazing for cases and other display units, and the lighting is tested.
Then the fixing of title panels, other text and graphic units, illustrations and photographs can be carried out by the design team or contractor, after which the installation of the original objects by the curators or conservators can begin.
Finally, the curator, conservator, education specialist, designer and any other specialists, and usually the director also, review the display or exhibition and approve the final result.
After this the showcases are closed and there is a further full cleaning of the exhibition space ready for the opening to the public.
Evaluating the Finished Exhibition
It is most advisable that each new display or major temporary exhibition be evaluated using recognized methods. Most rely on evaluation as soon as possible after the opening: this will identify quickly any major mistakes or problems, such as circulation difficulties so that necessary modifications can be carried out.
Exhibition and Museum Communication and Education
The public displays and exhibitions are the museum’s most important means of communication.
Its potential and capacity for communication is therefore the major issue to keep in mind when planning and designing an exhibition, whatever the theme, mode or type.
A good designer will seek to enhance communication by creating attractive displays that place the emphasis on the desired highlights in terms of the objectives of the exhibition, often by drawing on experience from theater illumination techniques. The aim throughout must be to motivate the visitor and enhance curiosity.