Have you ever heard the saying ”an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.?”  A truer saying couldn’t be more appropriate for the preservation and care of collections. Spending funds and energy proactively on preventive care is the most efficient way to preserve an entire collection for the long term, rather than reacting and treating damage that has already occurred to an individual object. Any type of action that can be implemented to mitigate the agents of deterioration—physical […]

Continue Reading about Preventive Conservation: Preserving Entire Collections for the Long Term Published on:
March 18, 2024

In the very few movies that have depicted museum staff, the characters have usually worn little white cotton gloves when handling precious collections items (for example, 2004’s National Treasure, where an archivist helps protect the Declaration of Independence from being stolen).  When I tell people I work in a museum, they almost always mention or ask about the white cotton gloves.  But is that a realistic depiction of how actual museum staff handle collections? 
Are gloves necessary for handling collections? 
As part […]

Continue Reading about To Glove or Not to Glove: Wearing Gloves for Collections Published on:
September 15, 2023

As an extremely active collecting museum, The Strong National Museum of Play is home to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play. While it’s our mission to collect and preserve artifacts, sometimes the items we collect have the potential to cause harm, whether that’s from the inherent materials that were used during production, materials that were added to the artifact later, or artifacts that pose risks from handling. While some obvious collection items that […]

Continue Reading about Hazardous Materials in Collections Published on:
June 2, 2023