Sponsored by the
Museum of Natural
Science, Louisiana State University
Date:
Fri, 1 Jun 2001 23:30:37 +0100
From: Tony Irwin <tony.irwin To: AVECOL-L listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: moving a collection
We have
recently moved our collections, including ca.10.000 birds, a short distance by
road to a newly refurbished study centre. We had particular problems with the
birds because a large proportion of our collection is in the form of
historically important uncased Victorian mounts on turned wooden museum stands.
We always had problems with the birds toppling over on static shelves, and
moving them threatened to be a nightmare. Eventually we hit upon the idea of
gluing small ceramic magnets to their bases, and placing them in plastic trays
(600 X 400 mm) with steel sheet inserts. The whole tray was then stuck with
adhesive foam tabs into a large carton with fabric handles and sealed up. When the birds were unpacked,
the tray could be slotted straight into the new cabinets, which were designed
to take the trays on adjustable runners. The solution to the moving problem has
become our new (much improved) storage system. The same cabinets hold the same
plastic trays that contain the skin collection. All the skins were pre-packed
in heat-sealed polythene tubing (part of a strategy to combat a dermestid
problem) and laid in the new trays with no extra padding. The polythene sleeves
seem to prevent much of the damage that large-scale moves can cause. Trays
containing small birds were simply stacked within the same type of cartons,
while wooden spacers separated trays containing larger birds. During the move,
out of 300 boxes containing mounted birds, only one had been evidently tipped
over, with little damage. All the other mounts and skins arrived in good
condition, with minimal handling of the specimens themselves. We used mostly
volunteer help to sleeve the skins and apply magnets to the bases. The packing
was done largely by volunteers and temporary staff. The move was carried out by
our own manual staff (duly threatened should any harm come to the specimens!).
In fact, providing cartons with handles proved to be a good move - there was
less risk of cartons being mishandled. I do intend to write up our experiences
and describe the storage system more fully in one of the UK curatorial
newsletters. I'll post a reference to that when it's done. In the meantime if
you or anyone else wants more detail, contact me direct. As for what I'd do
differently? - start to pack a year earlier (avoids panic, exhaustion and
domestic disputes - my wife, sons, daughter, her boyfriend and even our niece
from Australia were all drafted in to help!) Good luck!
Tony Irwin
Norfolk
Museums Service, The Shirehall, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 3JQ, England
E-mail: tony.irwin btinternet.com