Care and Preservations of Collections
The Pink Palace: A Review

Museums are charged with the long-term duty of preserving and presenting the patrimony of a nation, culture or community. The primary concern of museums is to protect the intellectual integrity of collections and objects through their care and preservation. During our tour at the Pink Palace Museum, led by Ron Brister, I was surprised to see that in such a brief time he mentioned many aspects of preserving collections in museums. These aspects included adhering to mission statements concerning the loan of objects, collections management, collection preservation, environment control, risk assessment and disaster planning.

Mr. Brister clearly stated that the museum must adhere to their mission statement regarding objects that they purchase or receive as a gift, loan or exchange. The Pink Palace preserves the cultural, historical, archaeological, and biological history of the Memphis region. If an object does not contribute to the mission, it can not be acquired. If it does follow these requirements, then the object must have a valid title of ownership. In the Collections department, each of the objects is given an up to date catalogue of the collections which provides the museum with easy access to the information and location of objects. However, the catalogue did not have photographs of these objects as ICOM states as one of the basic collection preservation strategies.

Other characteristics of collection preservation discussed in our readings were apparent in policies at the Pink Palace. The conservator does not permanently alter objects if the techniques to preserve them extend beyond what is necessary to ensure its survival. Rooms that require different conservation techniques are separated into clean and dirty rooms, and rooms with hazardous materials. The Pink Palace also practices preventive conservation where the main agents of deterioration, such as temperature, humidity, pest control and storage facilities, are monitored. This allows the care of the whole collection instead of responding to individual aspects of each object. Mr. Brister covered most of these agents, although he did not address pollutants, lighting or water prevention. As I observed water stains on the ceilings in the exhibition rooms, I wondered how long it had been since they had performed a risk assessment survey of the plumbing. The collections department also employs acid free tissue to wrap around textiles so as not to contribute to the breaking down of the fabric. In addition to this, they do not fold the textiles, because over time the crease in them breaks down the material and makes long-term preservation difficult.

To support environmental control, the Pink Palace utilizes a hygrothermograph that monitors the objects relative humidity. As stated in ICOM, museums aim to achieve 50-55% humidity, but the Pink Palace humidity levels are kept at 60%. The levels of humidity are extremely important in the preservation of collections, therefore documentation of these humidity levels are recorded in object condition reports for the purposes of loans. Another issue Mr. Brister addressed was the risk management of pests. ICOM mentions a new pest control strategy called IPM (Integrated Pest Management) which is the strategy that the Pink Palace employs. ICOM states that museums should avoid sources and attractants for insects, especially food garbage. All of the conservation rooms had signs that prohibited any food or drink which follows the rules of IPM. In addition to this, screens were installed over the vents in airtight collection cases that would further exclude an insect infestation. Simon Knell mentions that extremely low temperature also helps with bug infestations, and Mr. Brister affirmed this by commenting on how they keep their collections store room at cooler temperatures as part of preventative conservation.

Inspection of collections in storage and exhibits and a detection system for theft is very important to museums. The Pink Palace has guards that inspect the museum every hour. Further, they have security guards stationed there 24-hours a day to monitor for theft problems. These are among the basic collection preservation strategies that ensure protection against the agents of deterioration. They also consider disaster planning in the construction of their cases, because of the risk of earthquakes in the area. Therefore, these cases are mad by museum staff in order to protect the displayed objects if such an event occurred.

The Pink Palace seems to have addressed many of the policies and ideas involved in the care and preservation of collections. In addition to this, they adhere to many of the rules and regulations stated in these policies. My observations of our tour to the Pink Palace further bolstered the belief that preservation of collections is one the most important to museum practices.