Textile Review 2021 11-18

This is the pest damage discovered x date that stimulated this round of reviews. 

Image F146, DSCF6575, 11/1/2021 

Image F146, DSCF6576, 11/1/2021 

It is sad to see something like this damaged due to lack of monitoring and care. 

If we are going to keep something 

we should store and display it properly 

If we are not going to keep it properly 

we should not keep it 

If intended for close study, it should have been pinned to an acid free foam core 

and then placed in an acid free textile box 

Hats in the archive room 

Image F147, DSCF7066, 11/18/2021 

These are all stored well and cataloged in PastPerfect, 

Image F147, DSCF7192, 11/20/2021 

But when would we ever use them? Why are we keeping them? 

Note: See pp records all donated at one time by one donor but no explanation purpose or significance. Accession 2008.001 (includes 27 out of 55 hats listed in pp). 

There are more hats in other rooms that have been boxed up but not yet entered into pp. Should we document those? Is that worth the time? Many of these hats show mold and pest damage and other types of damage. 

insert pics of some of those here from our review and sorting process on Sat 11/20/21 

While it would be nice to find a good home for these, there is a cost to that. 

Image F147, DSCF7067, 11/18/2021 

Perhaps in this case we would be willing to pay that cost in time and effort and move them to the OFH before winter and contact UNH, PEM, Deerfield etc. to re-home these. 

Whatever we do with the textiles I recommend we move all of them out of the ELH to the OFH before winter. 

If we leave them in the ELH I am afraid more of textiles will be damaged by pests over the winter and they would be in the way of any cleaning, monitoring, building inspection and repair in the mean time. 

No matter what we do with the textiles it will take time to properly process them and we would need a good place to work. 

Whether we keep them or not, we should at least photograph them all.

Need to see it in the light, in a space warm, etc.

If we box them up in cheap Lowe's boxes then we can stack them high at the OFH and don't need to move more shelving units over there. 

This will in turn free up shelving units for other items in the ELH such as ceramics, etc. 

This will then free up space in the ELH to work on the building itself and inspect to see if there are more building issues. 

For example, simply moving out the hat boxes from the archives room (see pics above) reveals issues within the archives room. 

x 

broken window should be fixed, plex storm window and window shade would be good 

x 

Image F147, DSCF7072, 11/18/2021 

x 

cobwebs, indicating lack of access for routine cleaning, no procedure for that, who to do, how and how often? need to implement monitoring, cleaning process 

Image F147, DSCF7070, 11/18/2021 

Notice if cobwebs in that corner, what kind of problems might we have with leather bound manuscript books? 

need a cleaning schedule and procedure to clean around historic items. 

Also while we dehumidify that room, are there humidity problems? what about UV light? Another problem is gravity, these books should be stored horizontally. 

really do not need those heavy solid metal file cabinets. 

Image F147, DSCF7073, 11/18/2021 

wire type rolling shelving units all better air circulation, ease of access, and less possible humidity build up. Notice the rust on these units. These should be sold in tag sale or perhaps donated through habitat for humanity who will pick them up? 

We have lots of textiles in other rooms at the ELH 

WW2 home front kitchen 

Image DSCF6261, 10/26/2021

insert photos boxes Diana did paperwork on from millinery display in upstairs bedrooms 

see gaylord https://www.gaylord.com/Exhibit-%26-Display/Exhibit-%26-Display-Cases/Specialty-Cases/Gaylord-Archival%26%23174%3B-Mannequin-Exhibit-Case/p/HYB01627 

Bedding 

x 

Image F147, DSCF7074, 11/18/2021 

From bedding project, see gppt, pics 

again spurred on by pest damage, curator removed all feathers and corn husks from bedding and boxed it up, not having decision on what to do with it

11/18/21 committee decided to dispose of all the feathers and corn husks with the exception of a couple samples to be put into clear plastic bags for educational purposes. 

insert pic lady blanche dress

then pic of gaylord base and bonnet best way to store and display at same time 

We disposed of some items to dump 

Image F147, DSCF7195, 11/20/2021 

Mike Tamulis took the firearms to clean off the mold, etc. 

insert pics 

Image F147, DSCF7202, 11/20/2021 

Image F147, DSCF7203, 11/20/2021 

We moved all of the tag sale stuff to the OFH 

insert pics 

x