Preventative conservation measures for an Ethnographic Collection

Abstract

In museum collections the perishable nature of many ethnographic objects presents special problems for curators. Even under the best of circumstances, the nature of the materials used in many of these specimens leads to early deterioration. This natural tendency is further exacerbated by crowded storage conditions, fluctuations in temperature and humidity, and susceptibility to devastating insect infestations. All of these conditions were slowly destroying a collection of native American ethnographic objects curated at the University of California, Davis, Department of Anthropology. Special funds were obtained from the National Science Foundation's Systematic Anthropology Collections Division to renovate the curation of the C. Hart Merriam Ethnographic Collection. This report details the problems encountered and the preventative conservation measures taken to protect the collection in the future.