Preserving the Legacy: Cleaning the Collections

In 2006, USA Life One Insurance (previously Ben-Hur Life)donated a ritual trunk to the museum. The trunk contained over 100 items related to the Supreme Tribe of Ben-Hur fraternal organization, including hats, capes, leggings, pennants, sashes, pins, jackets and robes. When museum staff went to retrieve these items from the basement of the Ben-Hur building in downtown Crawfordsville, they discovered that the contents of the trunk were damp and moldy. At that time, the best thing the museum could do was to dry out the damp pieces and seal them in plastic bags and boxes so the mold would not damage other artifacts in the museum's collection. Through various grants, we were able to purchase a HEPA vacuum and the necessary storage boxes and materials to properly store this part of the collection.

Acting associate director Amanda McGuire and grounds manager Deb King suited up this week to start the process of cleaning the mold, mildew and dirt off of the donated Tribe of Ben-Hur collection. This required them to wear nitrile gloves, face masks and long sleeves to protect them from the mold. The powerful HEPA vacuum works great in removing the dirt and mold from the items, but the process is long and time-consuming. Care has to be taken to prevent damaging the costumes with the powerful suction of the vacuum and every inch of each piece has to be cleaned.

So far, 4 boxes and 1 plastic bag have been cleaned and moved over to archival boxes. There are still 5 more boxes and 2 more bags to sort through. The next step is to catalog each item so we know what we have, give them a number so they can be easily identified and pack them away in archival boxes with acid-free tissue as padding. Stay tuned for before and after pictures!

IMLS AWARDS GRANT TO GENERAL LEW WALLACE STUDY FOR ARCHIVE STORAGE

$3000 will be used for storage for Wallace’s uniforms, Civil War saddle

CRAWFORDSVILLE, IN, March 27, 2009— Thanks to a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), General Lew Wallace’s personal artifacts from the Civil War will have a long-lasting resting place.

The IMLS has awarded the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum a $3000 American Heritage Preservation Program grant for the stabilization and storage of many of General Wallace and his wife Susan’s personal effects, including clothing, the General’s Civil War saddle, and a drum first used in the Mexican War.

“We are excited to be one of the first recipients of this beneficial new grant program,” said Museum Director Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko. “This reminds us how important Wallace’s library and mementos are to American history.”

“With these awards, communities will be able to rescue exceptional objects that link their pasts to their futures,” said IMLS Director Dr. Anne-Imelda Radice. “This grant program is an important part of IMLS’s Connecting to Collections: A Call to Action, a multi-year, multi-pronged initiative to protect our national treasures.”

American Heritage Preservation Program grants are used by small museums, libraries, and archives to help to preserve specific items, including works of art, artifacts and historical documents that are in need of conservation. Applicants will build on completed conservation assessments of their collections, to ensure that the grants are used in accordance with best practices in the field. Nearly 190 million objects in U.S. collections are in immediate danger of deterioration and need restoration or conservation, according to the Heritage Health Index report (http://www.heritagepreservation.org/HHI/full.html).

Some of the items in danger of deteriorating are a Zouave uniform from the 11th Indiana Volunteers, which Wallace led off to war in 1861, the dress worn by Susan Wallace when she was presented at the Court of St. James in London, and six killim and Navajo rugs collected by the Wallaces during their travels throughout the American Southwest. These items were displayed for years in the Study building where they were exposed to extreme fluctuations in temperature, humidity, and ultraviolet radiation.

“Unfortunately, putting an historical object on public display is one of the worst things you can do to it,” said Catlin-Legutko. “Exposure to sunlight, humidity, and temperature highs and lows—all of which have been present in the Study building at one time or another—cause an object to degrade a lot faster than if it was properly archived. We want to make sure General Wallace’s personal mementos are still around for our children’s children to see.”

Many of the original items will be displayed for the final time this year, during the Museum’s Embattled: General Wallace’s Leadership in the Civil War exhibit, opening March 21 and continuing through December 13, 2009. After the exhibit, many of the items will be “retired” into proper archival storage in the Carriage House Interpretive Center, where a state-of-the-art artifact storage vault has been erected.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov/.