Keeping Historic Houses & Museums Clean
| Instructor: | Gretchen Anderson |
|---|---|
| Course Date: | February 3, 2025 |
| Cost: | $400 |
The four week online course Keeping Historic Houses & Museums Clean will provide the participants with a foundation as to how to clean objects and facilities safely. We will explore a variety of subjects, including health and safety for the staff and the objects, cleaning methods for a large variety of collection types common in art & cultural institutions and the importance of documenting what you do.
- Course Goals
- Learn to recognize and reduce the effects of the agents of deterioration
- Become familiar with cleaning strategies and develop priorities for cleaning that relate to your institution
- Learn safe ways to clean collections and facilities in a conservation approved manner.
- Develop the framework for a Museum Housekeeping Plan
You should complete this course with a general understanding of Historic House & Museum housekeeping. In four weeks we can not possibly cover everything that one could possibly encounter in cleaning and maintenance collections and historic structures, but we hope to give you the tools and resources to figure out issues that arise. The main goal of this course then is to introduce you to the most essential methodology and resources.
Participant Outcomes
Participants will:
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Keeping Historic Houses & Museums Clean addresses the American Association for State and Local History's Stewardship of Collections Standard 2, The Institution legally, ethically, and effectively manages, documents, cares for, and uses the collections.
- Do staff or volunteers perform regular housekeeping in all areas of the facility as well as specialized collections housekeeping?
and the American Association for State and Local History's Management Standard 6
and the American Association for State and Local History's Management Standard 6
- The institution is clean and well maintained, and provides for the visitor's needs.
Comments from participants:
While I had been through much of this material recently in my distance learning graduate coursework, I appreciated its practicality, its various avenues of engagement and interactivity, but mostly, the supportive forum of my cohorts and Brad and Gretchen. Thank you— I now feel empowered to clean my historic house museum with conviction, and to train volunteers in these methods!
This class was so helpful! This was such a great resource! For the first time since I started working here, my staff really seems to understand why I ask them to do what we do. It has really been the start of some great conversations on site and we will 100% use the techniques learned.