Are you using the best materials with your collections? What exactly does "archival" mean? How do you know you the material you are using is acceptable? Can you choose materials that are both good for collections and sustainable for the planet? In this 4 week course, you will learn what materials are safe for exhibiting, moving, and storing collections and consider ways to apply sustainable practices to materials use. You will create a customized handbook of materials and plan for an exhibit, moving, or storage project by identifying vendors and materials.

 

Course Goals

You should complete this course with a general understanding of good materials to use in storage, moving and exhibits. You will plan a project using the best materials for your objects, budget and timeline. In four weeks we can not possibly cover everything that one needs to understand the complex interactions between materials and collections, 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:

• Learn about the best materials for storage, moving and exhibit
• Learn concepts which inform best material choices
• Discover where to find information to make materials choices
• Apply the knowledge you gain to compile a handout and samples of good materials
• Plan a storage, moving or exhibit project by choosing the best materials while working in a budget
  

 

Materials for Exhibit, Moving, and Storage compliments our Storage Techniques course as well as our Moving Museum Collections course.