Collections Care and Management: Preservation and Access

What is important to me?

My favorite thing about collections is that they are used to tell stories about ourselves. Balancing the preservation of artifacts with access is of utmost importance as we need to preserve objects for future generations to learn from, but we also must let people today use the objects to understand themselves and others. With that tenant in mind, I am dedicated to collaborative collections care to ensure the implementation of ethical practices that are culturally sensitive and respectful. I believe that artifacts can be used in many different ways to fulfill their role as cultural heritage.

Skills and Knowledge

Object Labeling - Object Identification - Condition Reporting - Artifact Box Construction - Integrated Pest Management - Environmental Monitoring - Data Entry - Photography - Policies - Risk Management - Emergency Response and Salvage - Preventive Conservation - Human Health Hazards - Provenance Research

Hanging artifacts on the walls of the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. 2022.

Practical Applications and Experiences

Community Collections Care

As a student in the Preventive Conservation Course at IUPUI, I participated in hands-on experiential opportunities to care for collections at Indianapolis institutions, including the Eagle Creek Ornithology Center and the Indiana Medical History Museum. During these community collaborative preventive conservation activities, my fellow students and I performed housekeeping integrated pest management measures in collections and exhibit spaces.

Performing Integrated Pest Management at the Eagle Creek Ornithology Center. 2023.

Archaeological Investigations - Fieldwork and Lab

As a volunteer for the Kansas Archaeology Training Program, under the guidance of the Kansas Anthropological Association, I participated in archaeological field experiences. These opportunities took place in the summers of 2018 and 2019 at the Kaw Mission Site and Tobias Site, respectively.

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Cleaning archaeological materials in field lab at KATP Field School. 2018.

The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site

Looking through old building plans for upcoming Residential to Presidential Exhibit at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. 2022.

At the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, I served as the New Century Curatorial Intern. In this role, I handled and processed collections of diverse material types. I cleaned objects on exhibit, rearranged period rooms, and installed objects in exhibit cases. One of my biggest tasks as the New Century Curatorial Intern was processing a collection of over 700 letters donated to the Presidential Site, which included recording information about the correspondence ranging from who wrote it, the condition of the letter, and listing other artifacts accompanying the material. I prepared the letters for storage and organized them into a system based on who they were to, from, and the date.

The Children's Museum of Indianapolis Natural History Collections

In 2023, I started volunteering in the Natural History Collection of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. The curator was undertaking a thorough audit of the collection which includes taxidermy mounts, entomology specimens, geological specimens, faunal remains, and plant materials. I assisted with the tasks for this audit, including data and label reconciliation, condition reporting, and storage assessment.

Paper-Based Collections

In addition to 3-D objects, I have extensive experience working with paper-based, 2-D objects. At the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site, I processed, organized, stored, and scanned a collection of over 700 donated letters. I also gained experience in archival collections processing in my duties as a volunteer with the Kansas Archives and as a Special Collections and Archives Student Assistant at the William Allen White Library on Emporia State University’s campus.

The Indianapolis Zoo Education Department

The Indianapolis Zoo’s Education Department has a sizeable collection of materials and specimens used in educational programming and summer camps. While serving as the Interpretive Writing Fellow, I was responsible for taking inventory of this collection as well as developing informational sheets about the best practices for caring for the material types housed in the collection. I also rehoused objects in order to promote their longevity of use, while also recognizing that a crucial balance between preservation and use was needed as the materials were part of an education collection, rather than a permanent collection. Furthermore, based on the presence of taxidermy mounts in the collection, I advocated for the testing of heavy metals in particular specimens, which I also assisted in conducting, through arsenic spot tests.

Museum Studies Club volunteering at the Eagle Creek Ornithology Center to help with their collections care. 2023.

Housekeeping at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site to preserve artifacts on display. 2022.

Cataloging a donation of over 700 letters to the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. 2023.