October 15, 2023

The Museum Environment

Introduction to Museum Climate Control

(Excerpt from MS211 Museum Environments)

The goal of this course is twofold. It is intended to acquaint museum collections care professionals with the mysterious world of climate control for them to understand its basics and its limitations. Secondly, the course will introduce to building facilities staff to the underlying principals of balancing the needs of the collection with the needs of the building as well as the comfort needs of its occupants. Buildings of all types will be discussed, including purpose built museums, libraries, and archives; adaptively reused buildings into collections holding facilities; and historic buildings housing collections.

Climate control is an essential element in the preservation of collections and the buildings in which they reside. What is climate control anyway? It is the control of temperature and relative humidity in a space, and filtration of airborne particles and gasses. There are two fundamental rules which are mandatory to making all decisions regarding the choice of a climate control system to implement in any building whether new or old. Rule number one is you must know your collection and rule number two is know your budgets. The worst failure is the newly installed climate control system that the owner could not turn on because its electric bill was unaffordable! Climate control is a dynamic process that does not all need to happen at once. That is why monitoring programs are so important. They are the feedback tool that guides the implementation of a climate control process so that it can be implemented one step at a time as desired. Continued monitoring after installation of each climate control program will give the feedback of how well the system is working and the energy bills will tell what it’s all costing, before it’s too costly. Monitoring will be touched on in this course from its value standpoint. Other courses go into greater detail about its use, products, and procedures.

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Ernest A. Conrad's greatest contribution to the preservation field was the development of environmental guidelines for engineers who work on museums, libraries and archives. For over 20 years, Mr. Conrad has focused on environmental issues. He is president of Conrad Engineers and Past Founder of Landmark Facilities Group, Inc., an engineering firm specializing in environmental systems for museums, libraries, archives and historic facilities. A licensed mechanical engineer in several states, Mr. Conrad holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's in environmental engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has a special interest in house museums and how climate affects structures and collections housed within those structures. For more information visit his web site Conrad Engineers at http://conradernestpe.com/

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE) publishes standards in the areas of HVAC and refrigeration. Mr. Conrad recently co-authored the ASHRAE Applications Handbook "Chapter 20: Museums, Libraries and Archives." For the first time, there are guidelines specific to our needs in the engineering literature. Mr. Conrad has studied environments and designed special climate control systems throughout the United States for clients as well-known as the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, The Frick Collection, Getty Conservation Institute, The Pierpont Morgan Library, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and National Park Service.

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To learn more about your museum's environment and discover how to communicate with your facilities staff, join Ernest Conrad for MS211 Museum Environments starting November 6, 2023.

Photo: https://dataloggerinc.com/

Early Bird Discounts Available for Full Length Courses

An Early Bird Discount is available for anyone who signs up for a full length course from museumclasses.org 30 days prior to the start of that course. 

Sign up for a full length course up to 30 days prior to its start and save $100.00!

For our course list or to sign up: http://www.collectioncare.org/course-list

To take advantage of this discount, you must enter coupon code EARLYBIRD at checkout at collectioncare.org

Earlybird Discount Deadline for January 2024 courses is December 8, 2023

Featured Course: Advanced Interpretive Techniques-Interpreting the "rest of the story"

November 6 to December 4, 2023  

Instructor: John Veverka

Description:

Interpreting "the rest of the story", a powerful Interpretive communications technique for revealing and releasing the "rest of the stories" hidden in artifacts, objects, historical figures/events, landscapes, or sites through both live presentations and interpretive media text and label copy. This course will help you utilize and blend the Paul Harvey Rest of the Story format with Tilden's Interpretive Principles. An interpretive technique marriage that can be embraced and used throughout your interpretive career.

Course Goals: Upon completion of this course participants will:

- Have a working knowledge of Tilden's Interpretive Principles and the Paul Harvey presentation style and format.

- Have a working knowledge of the Model of Interpretation.

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To learn more about interpreting the "rest of the story" join John Veverka for a fascinating look at improving the interpretation of your museum's stories in MS273 Advanced Interpretive Techniques-Interpreting the "rest of the story".

November 2023 Courses

MS 007: The Mission Statement: Is it really that important?

November 6 to 17, 2023  

Instructor: Peggy Schaller

Description:

The heart of every museum is its collection. A mission statement is critical to preserving that collection. Participants in The Mission Statement will discuss their mission statements and whether they really make a difference. Peggy has seen and heard it all as a consultant to small and large museums. She will help you figure out ways to make your mission statement work for you.

MS 218: Collection Inventories

November 6 to December 4, 2023 

Instructor: Peggy Schaller

Description:

Collection inventories are vital to collection management and security. You need to know what is in your collection to be able to manage it well. This means regular inventories must occur. But knowing you must do them and actually having the time and manpower to complete an inventory are two different things. Collection Inventories discusses everything you ever wanted to know about collection inventories. From how to set one up to how to conduct an inventory. Other topics include what to look for during an inventory and how to reconcile the information.

MS 211: Preservation Environments

November 6 to December 15, 2023  

Instructor: Ernest Conrad

Description:

The museum's brick exterior wall is crumbling. The powder coated metal storage shelves have active rust under the foam padding. Objects in fur storage are covered in mold. It is raining in the exhibit hall. This is the damage that occurs to museum buildings or collection when staff do not understand preservation environments. Preservation Environments is essential knowledge for any collecting institution. Everyone should understand how humidity and temperature are controlled by a building and its mechanical system. For museum staff considering a new building - and any institution planning to expand or rebuild an existing one - Preservation Environments provide important information for calculating whether the proposed improvements will actually improve the environmental control of your protective enclosure. Participants learn the advantages and disadvantages of numerous methods of temperature and humidity control. Preservation Environments does not try to turn museum professionals into engineers. Rather, it arms them with the knowledge they need to work with engineers and maintenance professionals. And helps explain why damaged occurred and how to keep it from happening again.

MS 212: Care of Textiles

November 6 to December 4, 2023  

Instructor: Ann Coppinger

Description:

Caring for textiles demands an understanding of how and why they deteriorate. This course offers a simplified explanation of the origin and structure of textile fibers as well as the finished textile object; be it either a piece of whole cloth or a finished garment. Care of Textiles teaches students to identify fibers, fabric structures and finishes, write condition reports, and understand the agents of deterioration that are harmful to various fabrics both in storage on exhibit. Topics include preparing textiles for storage and exhibit, the use of archival materials with textiles, and three dimensional supports.

MS273: Advanced Interpretive Techniques -Interpreting the "rest of the story"

November 6 to December 4, 2023  

Instructor: John Veverka

Description:

Interpreting "the rest of the story", a powerful Interpretive communications technique for revealing and releasing the "rest of the stories" hidden in artifacts, objects, historical figures/events, landscapes, or sites through both live presentations and interpretive media text and label copy. This course will help you utilize and blend the Paul Harvey Rest of the Story format with Tilden's Interpretive Principles. An interpretive technique marriage that can be embraced and used throughout your interpretive career.

Course Goals: Upon completion of this course participants will:

- Have a working knowledge of Tilden's Interpretive Principles and the Paul Harvey presentation style and format.

- Have a working knowledge of the Model of Interpretation.

Conferences and Meetings

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