By joanne himmelman
The Museum is very excited to launch its “Beyond the Exhibits: A Storage Renewal Project.”
Last Fall, the museum applied for funding to the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Museum Assistant Program (MAP) in hopes of getting some help to start this exciting and much needed storage plan project. It is intended to be a two-phase project in which the Museum of Lennox and Addington will start the planning and implementation of better storage solutions and to create space in the existing storage areas for future collecting.
For the Museum to maximize its current physical storage space, it requires a complete collection inventory. This will help to determine the best possible plan for lay-out using the existing storage space in the museum.
The museum will have to use its existing storage area to maximize storage space for growth and protection of the collection. Unfortunately, a new storage building is not in the immediate future, so we must use what we have got. For this to happen, a new shelving plan that includes High Density shelving, professional racks for quilts and textiles, and cabinetry for small objects like jewelry, badges, and toiletries will be included to maximize capacity, preservation, and accessibility.
As part of our digital capacity planning, the Museum switched to the museum software Past Perfect in 2008. This program was to become the primary access point to digitizing the collection for online viewing. Over the succeeding years, a generalized inventory has been input using the original paper records (or what was available) and the former DOS based software Heritage Sentinel. This led to frustration for museum staff, record information gets lost with changes in technology and as paper deteriorates. Quite frankly, the record keeping in the 1970s and 1980s was less than ideal!
A comprehensive collection review was completed in 2020, using the records that were inputted into Past Perfect to capture collection statistics, gaps, and goals. Some tools like the museum’s Criteria Checklist were created and enforced to help to analyze the current collection and future offerings. This score/grade-based system has helped rationalize curatorial decision making over the past 5 years.
Although we now have a collection plan in place. What we know for certain was that for the collection to move forward, a physical shelf inventory was critical to fully realize the museum holdings and how to help it grow by collecting to the gaps and reducing redundancy. Honestly, reducing confusion and lost materials, and the frustration/concern for preservation, storage, and increasing internal and external accessibility are at the forefront of this exciting project.
Thankfully, the grant request was approved, and the museum received a matching grant of $48,495 to help make all of this happen. As part of this grant and project, the museum recently hired a Curatorial Assistant, Jeremy Brisson, to work with the Curator to complete the physical inventory and migrate (in its entirety) it to a digital form in Past Perfect, this includes, completed accession records, photographs, locations, and conditions. This will also allow for more of the collection to be online for the public to enjoy.
Phase Two will hopefully begin in Spring 2026 with the installation of the shelving as planned in Phase One.
We are so thankful to the County of Lennox and Addington for supporting the museum in their efforts to enhance the capacity of the museum collection. We also thank the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Museum Assistance Program.
Stay tuned to for more confessions about this project as we move along.
** “This project is funded [in part] by the Government of Canada.” « Ce projet est financé [en partie] par le gouvernement du Canada. »
