Their New Home

Dear Artifacts, 

Welcome Home!

Love,

Susie & Kaitlyn

Virtural Tour of the New Storage Room! :)

Let's See How Far We've Come

 

January 2015

 

 

 March 2015

 

 

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Week Ten: Filling the Shelves and Pallets

The over-sized shelving units are being filled with the collection's large items.

We finally received our last shipment: the pallets. The pallets are for the over-sized items that could not be stored on the shelves. From washing machines, to barber chairs, to record players...all are safely stored on the five pallets in the new storage room. 

Check out those awesome bikes!

The pallets, though made of powder-coated metal, were lined with acid-free cardboard for extra protection. The cardboard also helped us store the pieces with peg legs and wheels safely upon the mesh pallets.

Next week will be our last week!!

:)

We will be doing an inventory of the over-sized items and then this amazing project will be finished!

Ahh! The Last of the Shelving Has Arrived!

At last! The over-sized shelving units have arrived!

They are for our large artifacts that don't fit on standard shelving.

Though the wood is museum storage quality, we cut pieces of archival cardboard to line each shelf for a little extra protection. Only the best for these artifacts!

One of the cutest artifacts in the collection! :)

This (extremely heavy) derby car is now snug in his new home!

Now we are just waiting on the pallets to complete our capstone storage facility! 

Week Nine: Labels

This week we will be labeling our new shelving units. Assigning the cabinets and shelves numbers will give each artifact a "home location." This will help us keep track of the artifacts as they move around (on exhibition, on loan, etc.). 

 

 

 

 

Can you find the labels? :)

 

 

These artifacts will now have a permanent home address - how exciting!  

Week Eight: Spring Break

 

This week we will be taking a little break from the blog!

 

 

Enjoy the sunshine!

Week Seven: Artifact Spotlight

This week's artifact spotlight is a children's pedal car. The Barbie Jeep of the 1950s!

  

 

Look at that bumper detail!

 

A look inside to see how the pedals operate.

 

 

These pictures illustrate how the car is stored in our new facility. It is housed on open shelving and we have constructed small stops for the wheels made out of acid-free board. These will steady the car on the shelf and prevent movement.

 

Vroom-vroom!

Week Seven: Inventory for Days

This week has been dedicated to inventorying the collection within our new storage room.
 

 

 This is the first wave of the inventory process. Once all items have been added to the database, we will do a second wave which will consist of opening all boxes to do a physical conformation.

 

 

We take the time to do this inventorying process so that all artifacts can be easily located when needed. Knowing where every thing is stored is a fundamental part of the collections management process. 

The King of Pop + Our Antics =

Week Six: Artifact Spotlight

Question: What's cookin' good lookin'?

Answer: Waffles!

This week's artifact is an electric iron waffle maker.

 Decorated with etchings of wheat along the lid.

And the inside looks like...

It  also came in the original manufacturer's box.

Artifact Specs:

~ Manufactured in 1965-1970

~ Model #260

~ Bersted Manufacturing Company

Week Six: Blackout

The time has come to extinguish as much natural light in our storage facility as possible. Using the cut pieces of plywood that we painted white last week, we boarded up all the windows in the room. 

Now the artifacts are safe from the damaging effects of sunlight!

Snow Days :)

This week we had the pleasure of enjoying some adult snow days and therefore there will be little to blog about and no artifact spotlight (sorry!). 

We were able to complete one small project this week, however. We successfully prepared and painted all of the window coverings.

All windows need to be covered to protect the artifacts from the damaging effects of sunlight.

With the help of Kaitlyn's parents, plywood was cut out to the exact dimensions of each window.

We had a great and messy time painting!

Happy Snow Days!

Week Four: Artifact Spotlight

This week's artifact was chosen specially by Susie and is pretty "cool"... it's a hand-cranked ice cream machine! 

This looks like a lot of work for a delicious treat!

All the pieces and parts.

Artifact Specifications:

- Patent for the machine (June 12, 1923) is on lid

- Manufactured by the White Mountain company

- Made of wood and metal

- Included all the parts shown above

Has the patent date on it! So awesome!

Week Four: Shelves, Shelves, and More Shelves

This week we: 

~ received the second shipment of shelving units

~ constructed all the units

~ were able to bring a lot of artifacts into the new room

Building the Units
P.S. That fireplace is sealed. There is no draft and it is not a danger to any artifacts.

Once the shelves were up, it was time to fill them! 

With artifacts on the shelves, this is finally starting to look like the storage room we envisioned! After these pictures were taken, all the shelves were lined with foam to both cushion the artifacts and provide a barrier (for reactions) between them and the metal of the shelf. 

There are STILL MORE SHELVES to come in the upcoming weeks, though. Over-sized units for the museum's larger artifacts will be the last addition of shelving to be installed. 

Week Three: Artifact Spotlight

This week's artifact is a seemingly normal case - with a party inside!

This small black leather case houses all you need to serve up drinks to all your friends! A portable bar fully-equipped with steel cups (in three size variations), cocktail strainer, corkscrew, knife with bottle opener cut-out, and napkin (for those inevitable spills). 

Let the fun begin!!

Artifact Specifications:

~ Manufactured in 1950-60

~ Made of wood, leather, and cloth

~ Case snaps shut on side 

~ Has four legs for standing upright

~ Is awesome

Week Three: The Other Half

Now that one side of the room is almost finished, it is time to focus our attention on the other side. And so it all begins again...

First, we had to move all the artifacts from the "untouched" side over to the "clean" side.

Then, it was time to clean! We vacuumed, cleaned the windows, and wiped down the walls and baseboards.

Last, but certainly not least, we had to clean the carpet.

Now both sides of the room have clean walls and carpets! The fun continues next week with the next shipment of shelves expected! :) 

Week Two: Artifact Spotlight

This week's artifact is an item that could be found in almost every home. Sometimes the most interesting artifacts are those that are commonplace. 

 

A General Electric Vacuum Cleaner!
 

 

Cleaning the carpet never looked so stylish!

 

 

And it's Good Housekeeping Tested and Approved!

 

 

Artifact Specifications:

 

• Made by GE in 1950-1960
• Upright model
• Has movable handle, light, and cloth bag

 

Week Two: The Construction

After one side of the room had been completely cleared and cleaned, it was time to start building! With a blank canvas we were able to get a glimpse into how the room's layout would look.

Laying Out the Shelves

With a layout in mind we started putting together the powder-coated, museum specific shelves. For collections, a special type of shelving has to be ordered and installed. These shelves won't rust or off-gas. 

The First Unit

Five shelving units and nearly 80 boxes later...

One Side of the Room Almost Done!

It is amazing to see so much progress in only three weeks! We cannot wait to see more!

Having a Great Time!