2016 Webinar Archives – Connecting to Collections Care

Wireless Environmental Monitoring: Is it right for you? - December 8, 2016

It seems that every year there are new products to monitor temperature, relative humidity, and other conditions that affect collections. Wireless, networked, cloud, and NFC are terms used on product specification sheets but what do they mean and are the new products really different than just a few years ago? Units are available that can text alarms to your phone, transmit data back to your desktop or monitor sealed environments, however, do you have the need, budget, and IT savvy to make them right for you? This webinar is an update on the Connecting To Collections 2012 program on the topic.

Beyond “No Food or Drink in the Gallery”: Food Management Strategies for the Real World - November 3, 2016

Food in museums may seem at odds with collections care. How do you balance revenue-generating food service and events with protecting collections from increased risks of pest infestation and damage? How do staff meals and snacks affect collections care? What do you do if you have food items in your collection? Join members of the Conservation Committee from the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections for a discussion of best practices for food management in museums and collections holding institutions. You can find a way to have cake and eat it (or catalog and store it), too!

Caring for Archives: Fundamentals for Everyone - October 20, 2016

This webinar will cover the basics of archives preservation within a framework of risk management. Some issues discussed will be familiar to other areas of collection care, while others will speak to the particularities of archival collections. Topics will include: storage environments, housings, care and handling, collection surveys, security, integrated pest management, disaster planning, and digital preservation.

Management 101: Getting a Grip on Collections Management - September 15 - October 4, 2016

Do you need help to improve how you manage your collections? Do you have some vague idea that there are ways to manage the information about your collections and don’t know how to start? Have you documented the condition of your collections so you can tell if they are deteriorating year after year? If you had to locate an item in your collection this afternoon, would you know where to find it?

A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place: Conducting (and Maintaining!) a Collection Inventory - October 4, 2016

Is each and every item in your institution’s collection identified, documented, and “locatable”? If so, congratulations: you needn’t read any further. But if not, you are far from alone. Even though the creation and maintenance of a reliable, accurate, and up-to-date inventory is fundamental to the mission of any collecting institution and underpins all of its day-to-day operations, this admittedly Sisyphean task often falls into the category of as-time-permits.

There’s a Form for That: Documenting Your Collections -September 29, 2016

Is your collection properly documented? Every public museum, regardless of number of staff or size of collections, has a duty to record and retain information about the objects in its collection. While it is possible to create individualized records for every object, most museums have developed a group of standard forms that are used to document a variety of actions and activities within the museum. This webinar will consider which museum forms are optional, mandatory, or just nice to have. We will talk about what information should be included on each type of form, and what to consider when creating the forms you need.

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections: A Survival Guide for Messes Great and Small - September 22, 2016

What would you do if faced with a dark, gloomy shack crammed with innumerable objects and you needed to bring it all to a best practice museum collections storage? At first, this might seem like an impossible task. The sheer amount of work, the variety of tasks that all seem to be top priority can be mind-boggling and daunting. Worse, what if you are the only museum professional within a few hundred miles and your budget is next to zero? How do you begin tackling problems like a leaking roof, the intense smell of mice and bats, dresses crammed in acidic boxes, and more objects deep down in the piles that might or might not contain hazardous material? Take a deep breath – this is not an impossible task. How do you begin?

Basic Condition Reporting - September 15, 2016

Do you know the condition of the pieces in your collection? Can those pieces be exhibited or loaned? Do they need conservation? A good condition report is one of the cornerstones of documentation for any piece in a museum collection. There are many reasons to complete a good report yet this step often gets skipped. Come join us for this webinar and learn about the reasons to do a condition report for the items in your collection.

Hibernation – Not Just for Bears: Putting your house museum “to bed” for the season - August 31, 2016

What do you need to know to ready your buildings for seasonal closures? In a discussion of how, when, why, and what to do to prepare your historic house museum for the winter season, we will explore the variety of building and collections tasks that go into seasonal closings. Starting on the exterior, we will look at typical tasks required for the landscape and the building envelope including whether to bring your ornamental pots and statuary in for the off-season, shutting down exterior water sources, and preparations for winter storms. On the interior we will explore seasonal maintenance, whether or not to shut down your mechanical systems, off season environmental system set points, inspections, tips on preventing mold growth and pest infestations, and other collections tasks.

All Aboard: Engineering Collections Care Training for Small Museums - August 24, 2016

In small museums, the staff wears many hats and have many jobs including the responsibility of caring for collections. It is a fundamental responsibility of museum management to support professional development and to make sure that all of their staff has knowledge of current standards and collection care practices. The staff should be offered training opportunities and encouraged to take advantage of internal training programs and mentoring support for all full-time staff, part-time staff, and volunteers. Security, facility and events staff, even though they do not handle objects, should also be trained in collections care techniques since they work in close proximity to collections, educate the public, and need to understand their role in the overall preventive conservation measures and requirements of the museum.

Seeding Engagement and Cultivating Volunteers through Crowdsourcing - July 7, 2016

What sparks learning and discovery with audiences in museum and archives collections? How can organizations simultaneously engage with and invite audiences to help improve their collections? Crowdsourcing is a method of gathering information and data generated by audiences using various technologies and systems of communication – think of it as a collaborative, distributed problem-solving exercise. Learn from the crowdsourcing experience at the Smithsonian Transcription Center (TC), which has allowed the Smithsonian to use public participation to transcribe and review digitized collections improving access to collections while creating meaningful experiences for the public.

Lock, Stock and Barrel: Firearms Collecting for Museums - June 15, 2016

In this webinar, we will take a look at laws that govern the firearms and how museum can ensure they are legally obtaining weapons. We will also address the care of firearms as composite objects, made of both organic and inorganic materials in close contact. This can result in complicated deterioration reactions that make balancing storage conditions a challenge.

Arsenic and Old Lace: Controlling Hazardous Collection Materials - May 3, 2016

This webinar will help you identify hazardous collection items, the safety risks they pose to you and your visitors, and how to control those risks in practical ways. The presentation will provide you with resources to understand how materials can be chemically, biologically and physically hazardous as well as the differences between materials that are inherently hazardous by nature or design or those acquire hazardous properties through treatment, contamination or degradation.

Much Ado About Mannequins: Making the Perfect Form

This webinar will look at display solutions across a range of budget constraints, including mannequin fabrication, modification of existing mannequins, and hybrid approaches. We will cover crucial preparation work including how to determine the suitability of a costume for display, how to decide on a mannequin style, and how to assess different materials for mannequin use. Other topics will include best handling practices during costume preparation and installation. The main focus will be on garments, with a few examples on the display of accessories.

Caring for Artifacts Found in Archives Collections - April 7, 2016

Do you find objects or artifacts that seem out of place in your archives? Maybe children’s games or a potholder, a bit of lace, a fancy hat, a painting, globes, or fossils and botanical specimens … things that just happened to be in the archives and are now associated with specific collections. What should you do with those objects that are in your archives by chance and are part of your collections? This webinar will examine the best methods to safely care for the artifacts found in paper collections using appropriate housings and handling procedures.

Notes From the Home Front: Care & Handling of Heirloom Textile Collections - March 30, 2016

Do you care for treasured clothing, quilts, lace, christening gowns and even, doilies and antimacassars, in your collection? What are the best ways for you to care for these fragile collections? This webinar will offer basic information for self-surveying historic home and heirloom textiles and identifying risks to long-term preservation of heritage collections. Topics will include condition assessment guidelines, environmental and storage adaptations for house museums, considerations in open display of objects, and short-term prioritizing of conservation needs. There will be time for questions and answers, so be prepared.

Reframing the Problem: Caring for Framed Objects in Small Institutions (aka: On a Budget) - February 09, 2016

Do you have a stash of framed objects and old frames and don’t know what to do with them? This webinar will focus on the ways that smaller institutions can care for those frames and their contents safely and economically. Topics will include storage tips on a budget; whether to use glass or Plexiglas®; the nuts and bolts of framing hardware; caring for period frames; and the advantages of using standard frame sizes. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion at the end.

A Conservation Primer: Caring for Historic Furniture - January 14, 2016

Do you have historic furniture in your collection? What is the best way to take care and preserve your furniture pieces? This webinar will address small museum collections and the Do’s and Don’ts of furniture care. In addition, the role of the furniture conservator in the care and conservation of historic furniture and wooden artifacts will be considered. How can a furniture conservator help you to take better care of your collection? Topics will include how furniture conservators examine objects, what they look for and how they formulate intervention strategies. Tips on surface examination techniques, deciphering patina and identifying past interventions will be discussed. Wood Identification basics will be outlined, with an overview of techniques and tips on taking samples.