Practical Approaches to Collections Care

199 Pages·2022·3.682 MB·English

by  Samantha Forsko

Practical Approaches
to Collections Care
While cultural heritage practitioners and caretakers are often intimidated by
“best practices,” Practical Approaches to Collections Care helps to alleviate
those concerns, offering a stepped approach to preservation encompassing a
variety of collections care programs.
The author, drawing on over a decade of experience working in libraries,
museums, archives, and other historic sites, and specifically building off of
her work as a Preservation Specialist at the Conservation Center for Art &
Historic Artifacts, discusses realistic, efficient, and sustainable approaches
to collection housing, space planning, environmental management, facilities
care, emergency preparedness, and much more. Giving examples of
implementation and easy-to-follow guides that will allow readers to start
from scratch or improve an already existing program, Forsko demonstrates
how preservation can become a component of any collections care program.
Encouraging the reader to start by taking small, manageable steps, the
author shows that even the smallest of actions can make a difference that
will ultimately help to preserve collections and ensure that the world’s
heritage will remain intact for future generations.
Practical Approaches to Collections Care takes an applied approach,
making suggestions the reader can immediately implement no matter the
size of their institution. It is an essential tool for stewards of cultural heritage
collections, particularly collections managers, registrars, and preservation
specialists. It will also be useful to students who are engaged in the study of
collections care.
Samantha Forsko has over a decade of experience working with collecting
institutions across the United States to improve preservation practices. She
currently resides in Illinois, the United States, where she works as the Head
Registrar at the Smart Museum of Art of the University of Chicago.

Practical Approaches
to Collections Care
Samantha Forsko
Cover image: urbancow/Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Samantha Forsko
The right of Samantha Forsko to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Forsko, Samantha, author.
Title: Practical approaches to collections care/Samantha Forsko.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY:
Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022025569 (print) | LCCN 2022025570 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032037684 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032037530 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003188865 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Museum conservation methods.
Classification: LCC AM141. F67 2023 (print) | LCC AM141 (ebook) |
DDC 069/.53 – dc23/eng/20220628
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022025569
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022025570
ISBN: 978-1-032-03768-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-03753-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-18886-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003188865
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To my parents: Jane, Mort, Joe, and Rachel
For always supporting me
To my husband: Nick
For missing me every Sunday so that I could write this book

Contents
List of Figures viii
List of Tables ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Intellectual Control 6
3 Storage Enclosures and Artifact Housing 19
4 Space Planning and Management 33
5 Collections Care in Exhibitions 50
6 Environmental Management 73
7 Facilities Management 119
8 Emergency Preparedness and Response 134
9 Policies, Plans, and Procedures 148
10 Conclusion 171
Glossary 174
Index 184
Figures
3.1 A Chinese vase in a customized, archival housing. 20
3.2 Image of a Sterilite tub with artifacts stored inside, air holes
on the side of the tub for ventilation. 26
3.3 Image of the John Richardson Collection Binders in storage. 28
4.1 An example of a storage space rendered in SketchUp. 38
4.2 A “before” image of the textiles storage area. 40
4.3 An “after” image of the textile storage area, particularly
highlighting the use of the novel pegboard storage system. 41
4.4 A “before” image of the bathroom on the second floor of
the Flowers-Robert House, before remodeling. 47
4.5 An “after” image of the bathroom on the second floor of
the Flowers-Robert House, after remodeling to remove
bathroom fixtures and adding in storage furniture. 48
6.1 The dehumidifier and air scrubber installed in the library at
the Wolfsonian Museum. 81
6.2 A graph showing environmental data plotted onto a chart
for facilitated analysis. 82
6.3 An example of a Blue Wool Standard card demonstrating
fading. 95
6.4 Image of the construction paper experiment setup. 97
6.5 The foam solution fitted into the windows at the Wharton
Esherick Museum. 98
6.6 A glue board with a pheromone lure, showing clothes
webbing moths trapped on the glue. 110
Tables
2.1 An example collection tiering rubric, developed by the
Framingham History Center, located in Massachusetts, the
United States. 8
2.2 An example collection tiering rubric from the Wisconsin
Historical Society, located in the United States. 9
2.3 The collection tiering rubric developed by the Kentucky
Historical Society. Supplied by and discussed with Trevor
Jones, the former Director of Collections at KHS. 11
2.4 A suggestion of inventory and/or processing activities to
be undertaken by a collections caretaker, categorized by
collections tier. 14
2.5 A list of questions to consider when creating a CDP. 16
3.1 A table outlining ideal housing materials for different
mediums of artifacts. An end column outlines the
exceptions to the rules outlined or provides additional notes
or clarifications. 20
3.2 A table that clearly lists each of the agents of deteriorations,
as developed by the Canadian Conservation Institute, and
explains why using a primary enclosure helps to block or
preserve artifacts from that agent. 24
3.3 A table listing various, unconventional, housing materials,
how long they should be expected to last in storage, along
with the pros and cons of using such unconventional materials. 25
3.4 A table containing definitions of commonly used phrases
when referencing archival housing materials and their
definitions. 30
4.1 An example of what a collections space need assessment
might look like. 35
4.2 A table showing acceptable products for collections storage
and exhibition furniture. 43