Museum, Archive, and Library Security

872 Pages·1983·46.47 MB·English

by  Lawrence J. Fennelly (Auth.)

Museum, Archive,
and Library Security
Lawrence J. Fennelly
BUTTERWORTHS
Boston · London
Copyright ® 1983 by Butterworth Publishers. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All references in this book to personnel of male gender are used for convenience
only and shall be regarded as including both males and females.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Fennelly, Lawrence J., 1940-
Museum, archive, and library security.
Bibliography: p.
1. Museums — Security measures. 2. Archives — Security measures. 3. Li-
braries — Security measures.
I. Title.
AMI48.F46 1983 069.5'4 82-14741
ISBN 0-409-95058-0
Published by Butterworth Publishers
10 Tower Office Park
Woburn, MA 01801
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
To the important people in my life
my wife Annmarie my children,
Alison-Margaret, Larry, Billy and Stephen.
Contributors
Stephen J. Allen, Public Relations Consultant, Stephen J. Allen and
Associates, Boston, Mass.
Donna Carlson, Administrative Assistant, Art Dealers Association of America,
Inc., New York, NY
CG. Coates, Director of Security, National Museum of Canada, Ottawa, On-
tario, Canada
Saul L. Chafin, Harvard Union Police Department, Cambridge, Mass.
Keith Forbes, Director of Security, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los
Angeles, CA
Osborne Frazier, Director of Security, National Board of Education, Newark, NJ
Alain Goffier, Head of Security, The Louvre Museum, Paris, France
John E. Hunter, Museum Curator, National Park Service, Lincoln, Neb.
Albert S. Janjigian, Vice President, Aritech Corporation, Framingham, Mass.
Byron M. Johnson, Division of Building Research, National Research Council
of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Herman Kreugle, Vice President, Visual Methods, Inc., Westwood, NJ
Steven Keller, Chicago, 111.
John B. Lawton, Fine Arts Insurance Consultant, Huntington Block In-
surance, West Hartford, CT
J. Laurie Paulhus, Security Director (Retired), National Art Gallery, Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada
VI Museum, Archive, and Library Security
Leonard Poteshman, Sgt. Retired, Los Angeles.County Sheriffs Dept., Art
Theft/Fraud Unit, Los Angeles, CA
Renata Rutledge, Institute of Museum Services, Washington, DC
Charles Schnabolk, Institute for Museum Security, New York, NY
Lou Tyska (Past President of the American Society for Industrial Security),
Director of Security, Revlon, Inc., New York, NY
Hans Urbanski, Erste Allgemeine Versickerunys Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna,
Austria
Timothy G. Walch, National Historical Publications and Records Commis-
sions, Washington, DC
Stephen U. Weldon, Superintendent, Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Del.
Joseph Wylie, Northeast Director of Sales, Wachanhut Corp., Boston, Mass.
FOREWORD
This book meets an urgent need. Experienced professional practitioners from
throughout the world have here, for the first time, shared their skills in a series
of practically-oriented studies which address the immediate concerns of all
those entrusted with the protection of precious objects and the documenta-
tion of mankind's heritage.
This book comes at a moment when new museums, libraries, corporate
data centers, and archives are being planned and when older repositories re-
quire renovated security systems to prevent loss, vandalism, plagiarism, es-
pionage, as well as ever more sophisticated methods of computer-theft and
the illicit traffic in antiquities and art objects.
The editor of these studies has for over a decade supervised the protec-
tion at Harvard University of extraordinarily diverse collections — ranging
from delicate fossils, the oldest map, and the famous "Glass Flowers" to
"moon rocks," secret diplomatic documents, and dangerous samples of genetic
engineering produced by experimental manipulation of DNA molecules.
The Institutes which contain these various collections are as diverse as
their contents. Thus, Mr. Fennelly's work has required the design, installa-
tion, and management of security systems in historic halls, which are
themselves architectural treasures, in modified old buildings which through
generations had been constantly adapted and re-adapted for many different
functions, as well as in modern structures carefully designed to simultaneously
facilitate instruction, research, safe-storage, and displays.
The people served by Mr. Fennelly's security measures include Nobel
laureates, technicians, students, tourists, school-children, and scholars from
every nation — as well as those kings whose 4000 year-old archives are be-
ing preserved intact here and, we hope, those untold future generations who
will learn from them.
Xll Museum, Archive, and Library Security
In the course of his Harvard responsibilities, the editor has consulted ex-
tensively with security officials from other institutions throughout the world,
and eminent specialists in electronic surveillance, insurance, training of guards,
and all aspects of the protection of collections. Experience gained in compil-
ing his previous book on Crime Prevention & Loss Prevention has enabled
Mr. Fennelly to select contributors and topics for this book with an eye to
what will prove most useful.
In some ways protection of collections is as old as mankind itself: In the
Genesis account of the Forbidden Fruit, a sophisticated psychological "silent
alarm" system seems to have incriminated Adam and Eve by a detectable
change in their behavior. Long before writing, the enormous fortifications at
pre-pottery Neolithic Jericho indicate that, despite the sweltering heat at our
Globe's lowest spot, fear of unwanted intrusion required the laborious con-
struction of a security system 6000 years ago.
The very letters you are reading on this page seem to be the result of
early efforts to protect precious objects! Writing seems to have started
separately but at about the same time (3500 B.C.) in both Egypt and
Mesopotamia — as security systems.
From the banks of the Nile, the earliest hieroglyphs we can decipher seem
to be badges,' official symbols such as crowns or animal totems which later
usage confirms as the designations of rank and regions. Adorning knife
handles and ceremonial objects (such as knob-like mace-heads and cosmetic
palettes), those badges are sometimes combined with battle scenes which prob-
ably depict specific incidents during the reigns of rulers who we know only
by their symbols such as King 'Scorpion.' Still today those badges proclaim
that the objects they ornament belonged in one way or another to the collec-
tion of each badge owner.
From the Tigris and Euphrates plain, the earliest messages we can under-
stand clearly are lists of objects: schematically rendered as pictographs of
tripod-stands, vases, livestock, or sleds used before the introduction of wheels.
Each object-type is followed by strokes which obviously stand for numbers.
These inventories of temple collections may themselves have derived from even
earlier systems of 3-dimensional tokens. From as late as 1500 B.C., on the
outside of a hollow clay tablet (excavated by Harvard at the site of Nuzi) were
listed the quantity of sheep which belonged to each of three different herders,
while inside rattled the appropriate number of pebbles.
Even long after writing systems had fully developed, seals continued to
be used to control documents, packages, and doorways by inspiring fear that
unauthorized access could be detected. A uniquely clever seal forgery (also
from 1500 B.C. Nuzi) has been recently found to demonstrate that in antiq-
uity custodians of collections could have profited from prophylactic skills
similar to the expertise assembled by Mr. Fennelly in this book.
Foreword xiii
It is devoutly to be hoped that these studies mark the beginning of a new
era of international cooperation among those responsible for preserving
humanity's cultural legacy.
Dr. Carney E. S. Gavin
Curator, The Harvard Semitic Museum
Dr. Carney E. S. Gavin is;
— Associate Director and Curator of the Harvard Semitic Museum
— Chairman, Harvard University Museums Council's Committee on Deces-
sioning and Committee on Photographic Rights and Reproduction Policy
— Director, UNESCO-sponsored International F.O.C.U.S. Project
— Senior Consultant for the planning of the Museums of Bahrain,
— Honorary Member, Friends of Old Damascus
Preface and
Acknowledgements
Over the past several years I have often wondered about the lack of readily
available information on security for museums, art galleries, and libraries.
There are certainly many of these institutions throughout the world, and many
have a security director. Surely there is a need to protect rare and cherished
art treasures and cultural objects. Why so few books? I believe that the sim-
ple reason for this is that the subject is so large and complex that it
discourages would-be authors from writing.
Museum, Archive, and Library Security is a contributed book which at-
tempts to address all of the security related problems that are likely to arise.
Thus, I gathered material covering such important topics as insuring works
of art, security management, fire prevention, emergency planning, security
methods, policy and procedures for the guard force, training, and investiga-
tion. Since these concerns are international in scope, I invited experts from
many countries to share their expertise. It was my intention to produce a prac-
tical, comprehensive reference that would assist security directors, curators,
archivists, and librarians in the protection of their rarities and works of art.
Although the emphasis is on museum security, most of the information
here can easily be applied to galleries, libraries, and residences and corpora-
tions which display valuable objects.
I will be forever grateful to the many professionals for their cooperation,
assistance, friendship, and especially for their confidence in me in undertak-
ing this project.
My sincere thanks to all the contributors who made this book possible.
Without their help, guidance and involvement it would not have been possi-
ble to complete.
XV1 Museum, Archive, and Library Security
A special thanks to Saul Chafin, Jack Morse, and George Walsh whose
continuous support does not go unnoticed; to Dave Priestly who read much
of this material; and to Lee Kirkwood and Tom Kissane CPP who stimulated
my interest in the art world.
My deep appreciation and thanks to the following for their guidance and
assistance when we were in the early stages of development: Robert Burke,
Dave Liston, E.B. Brown, Donna Carlson, Donald Mason, John Hunter,
Chuck Coates, Alan Gore, Steve Keller, Keith Forbes, Dave Bailey, Kevin Fen-
nelly, David Muir, Alan Erickson, Lou Tyska CPP, Cliff Crane, John
Maloney, and a special thanks to the staff at the Milton Library.
To the secretarial staff who aided me in completing this book — Susan
Tilly, Vickie Fox, Jo-Ann Jordan, Claire O'Callaghan, Carol Blute and Marie
Mooney — thank you very much.
L.J.F.
1982