Care of Collections

What did I learn?

Preventative conservation and how to handle artefacts
The different kinds of agents of deterioration (light, incorrect temperatures and RH, pollutants, fire, water, disaster planning, pest identification and management, thieves and vandals, packing and transporting items)
Characteristics and agents of deterioration for ceramics, glass, metals, wood, leather and protein based materials, textiles and fibres, and archival materials
All the required conservation documentation one would find in a museum
A CCI online workshop on photography
Identifying and characteristics of photographs
Mount making
Preparing artefacts for exhibits
Installing our class exhibit
Cleaning galleries
Modern and 20th-century information carriers
Cleaning the gallery and classroom

By learning more about these practices, we were not only able to identify issues with the artefacts, but we were also able to prevent any agents of deterioration from damaging them. In addition to making the mounts, we had to consider how the artefacts would be displayed and which materials would work best.

What did I do?

Do a condition report and photographic documentation
A manual dexterity skills assignment
Practical work at Lang Pioneer Village Museum and the Peterborough Museum and Archives
Design and create mounts for our mini-exhibit and class exhibit
Repair a ceramic pot
Polish a metal object and do protective packaging for it
Do a condition report and treatment for an exhibit artefact
Do preventative conservation in exhibits
Work with archival materials
Do exhibit maintenance and gallery inspections.

As part of our work at Lang, we worked in teams to clean the buildings, but also packed any clothing or other artefacts in materials that would best preserve them. The same was at the Peterborough Museum and Archives, where we had to clean the collection in their curatorial centre. We helped create mounts for artefacts, from designing them on paper to actually making them, and then placing them in their final positions on the table or panel for the exhibit.