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PART I
General collection care practices
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1
CONSERVATION IN A MUSEUM CONTEXT
Museum – an overview: building, collections, functions
“A museum is 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 the purpose of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment.” This definition of a museum has been accepted by the International Council of Museums (ICOM) Statutes, article 2, para. I, adopted in 1974 by the 11th General Assembly of ICOM (International Council of Museums) in Copenhagen (Murphy, 2004). It was reviewed and redefined in 2004, by ICOM.
The above definition refers to a traditionally understood museum – an institution that has a collection – and does not include non-collecting institutions, such as virtual museums with virtual objects, or a science center or a children's museum with no accessioned collections at all (Donahue, 2004). This traditional concept of a museum as the institution housing collections and acquiring, conserving and researching them is adopted in this book.
A museum has to meet certain professional standards in order to be called a museum. In the United States these standards are reviewed for each museum in an arduous accreditation process carried out by the American Association of Museums (www.aam-us.org).
A museum building is a physical structure that houses collections of objects – artworks or archaeological artifacts, natural history or ethnographic specimens. The definitions of each element, the museum, its function, collections, and their purpose, are evolving with time, reflecting our broadened knowledge gained with the development of technology aiding a better understanding of the context in which the artifacts were created.
CHART 1: Museum; structure and function
A museum, when viewed as a structure housing collections, poses some questions regarding its physical stability, the security of the collections within its walls, the accessibility of the building to visitors and researchers, and how well it is protected against potential natural and human-caused disasters.
The environment, as defined by the levels and changes in relative humidity and temperature, level of illumination of daylight and artificial light, quality of air in terms of gaseous and particulate pollutants, has a direct impact on longevity of artifacts in a museum. The environment in a museum, sometimes referred to as a macroenvironment, versus a microenvironment in display cases, is monitored and controlled to ensure stable levels and to prevent fluctuations. In fact, the impact of the environment on artifacts is so great that environmental control is considered to be one of the most important activities of the collections’ keepers. It has been estimated that 95 percent of conservation treatment of objects is necessitated by the effects of the environment (Hutchins, 1987). Controlling the environment and maintaining desired levels of relative humidity, temperature and light, and minimizing pollutants, is one of the preventive measures of collections care (Michalski, 1994).
Collections in a museum serve various purposes, and education is one of the principal ones. The objects educate by being exhibited or researched. Some are in long-term storage and accessible upon request. The decision to store artifacts rather than display them is based on many different criteria, structural fragility of objects, their uniqueness, or high monetary value among others. Each function, exhibition, storage, or research requires a different method of preparing an artifact.
Although the stability of the environment is important in any situation – exhibit, storage or research – the focus of preservation is different for each one. Objects on exhibition remain in direct contact with materials of the exhibit case and are placed on supports. Therefore those two elements – the type of material and design of the case and support are of the greatest concern in ensuring the stability of the exhibited artifact. The multitude of elements considered in designing a safe and adequate exhibit environment is discussed in Chapter 4, pp. 82–85.
Objects placed in storage, sometimes referred to as “retired,” are usually inspected less frequently than those on display. Storage containers therefore need to be constructed from materials that are stable, durable and chemically inert, to ensure that no chemical reaction will occur between the object and its container. The construction of the container itself must provide a structural support for an artifact to prevent any deformations that may develop over time. Therefore, when preparing the collection for long-term storage the focus will be on providing chemically inert materials and sound design of storage enclosures.
Research and study collections, by definition, are endangered by frequent handling. Therefore, their enclosures and supports need to be particularly sturdy and resilient. The objects themselves often need to be protected from direct contact with their handler; wearing white cotton gloves may be an appropriate solution in some situations. That is particularly recommended when handling artifacts made of metal, to prevent permanent etching of the surface resulting from transfer of acids from bare hands. However, there are some exceptions to the gloves-wearing rule. Handling of glass objects is one example. The slippery and smooth surface of glass requires a sensitive touch and tactile assessment of glass stability. Gloves not only will create a barrier preventing tactile examination but also may result in slipping of the object and causing damage (Koob, 2003).
Another important factor in the protection of the original artifacts is the training of all researchers in proper handling; this is one of the customary procedures for many institutions, for example at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC. Handling guidelines vary for different materials and are discussed in detail in subsequent chapters.
Collections are assemblages of objects, which are handled and processed, surveyed, examined, preserved and conserved. The process of examination is one of the first activities carried out once the object enters a museum. Collections as a group of objects are surveyed to establish their conservation needs and to prioritize future actions. The purpose and the extent of an examination depend, among other factors, on the ultimate destination of an object, its preparation for exhibit, for storage or as a research subject.
The examination may be carried out purely for a scientific reason, treating an artifact as a primary source of information about a period, material, provenance, culture or any other aspect of its context. The choice of examination and testing methods, tools and equipment depends on the objective of that examination (see Chapter 3, pp. 52–61).
The core museum functions are defined in the ICOM Statutes as to “acquire, conserve and research.” Without basic research, “exhibits would become meaningless and collections mere repositories of mysterious objects.” “Acquisition and conservation still precede all other functions. Exhibitions, communicating and educating come only later in the conceptual order of things” (Donahue, 2004: 4).
In an ideal world all objects in a museum should be well taken care of. Unfortunately, museum operations reflect a real-world dilemma; museums are underfunded and understaffed, which has a direct impact on the quality of collections care. This situation is uniformly noted in all countries, as indicated in periodically conducted surveys. As Knell mentioned in 1994 and repeated in 2001 in his Introduction to Care of Collections, “much of the world remains in deep recession – a recession which has produced a worldwide cut in museum staff, and museum closures” (Knell, 2001: 3). Consequently, only the most fortunate museums employ a trained conservator and provide fully outfitted conservation facilities for undertaking treatment of their collections.
Collections and their preservation objectives
Although collecting as the “gathering of beautiful objects” has been practiced since antiquity, not until the Age of Enlightenment (eighteenth century) was that activity formally defined as “collecting” with the purpose of displaying and making the collections available to the public (as in a museum display). A museum is characterized by its collection. The type of objects, the purpose for which they were created and the reasons why they were collected will shape the focus of preservation efforts.
Selecting two elements as criteria – first, the purpose for which objects were originally created and, second, the reason for collecting them – the collections can be grouped as follows (see Chart 2):
• art objects (paintings, sculptures, art on paper) – purpose of objects: aesthetic enjoyment
• ethnographic objects – purpose of objects: daily use of objects intertwined with religion, social identity
• natural history collections (other than ethnographic) – purpose of objects: study and research
• industrial objects – purpose of objects: functionality and service to humans
• installation and time-based art – purpose of objects: artistic expression.
CHART 2: Museum collections; focus of preservation
Consequently, the focus of the preservation efforts respectively will be on:
• preservation of material – to continue enjoyment of art objects
• preservation of culture – to maintain the ways of living, creating objects and interaction with these objects
• stabilization for display and research – to preserve evidence of objects’ historic contexts
• maintenance of functionality – to preserve elements in working order preservation of artist's intent – to preserve the artist's desired outcome and format in which it was intended to be presented.
Note that the debate on preservation of culture is complex and sensitive. Many aspects of the preservation efforts of ethnographic objects are discussed by Miriam Clavir (2002) and elaborated in Chapter 5, pp. 93–108. A discussion on maintenance of transport artifacts, including various approaches to maintenance of working parts, is well presented in Mann (1989).
Preservation and conservation
Preservation and conservation applied to various types of collections and artifacts will have different dimensions, goals and practical approaches although the principle of practice remains the same and stems from the same base, to “preserve and do not harm.” This means weighing the pros and cons of the consequences of interaction with the object. It includes reversibility whenever possible and minima...
