Preservation Interest Group

Ann Kearney provided an overview of creating exhibits while keeping conservation in mind. She listed the agents of deterioration and then described how they could be addressed when creating exhibits. The agents of deterioration are: 

• Physical forces - dents, abrasions, punctures
• Thieves and vandals - Should have security personnel indoors and surveillance such as cameras outdoors
• Dissociation - Missing or outdated information or documentation about an object 
• Fire - Discussed the fact that staff should be trained on the location and use of fire extinguishers. Local fire departments may provide this training.
• Water
• Pests
• Pollutants
• Light and ultraviolet light - Discussed the difference between lumen and foot candles/lux. Lumen is the brightness of the light emitted from the source. Foot candles (feet)/lux (meters) is the amount of light that reaches the surface target. There is a diagram on slide 21 of the presentation that illustrates this. Some museums periodically vary the amount of light and which part of an exhibit object the light highlights to both protect the object and vary the experience for viewers.  
• Temperature
• Humidity

Ann also provided links to several sources that provide detailed information. Although some of this may be too technical for small institutions, much of it will be useful to all sizes of institutions. These links are in the slides and listed in the "Resources" section below. 

We ended the session with a brief discussion of security, including considerations when using volunteers and guidelines for security personnel.