Wow, you have quite a challenge! A few questions:

1. How did the flags get into the storage area in the first place?

2. Could a window be removed and the flags removed from the second story?

3. Or, a wall (I know it is a historic building) removed?

4. What are the current plans for the building you are moving from?  Will
there be renovations done to the building which would lend an opportunity to
move the flags during renovations?

I know altering a building to remove a collection is a server option, but it
sounds as though these flags cannot with stand any other methods. Of course,
all changes to a historic structure would have to be reconstructed as though
a removal of a window or wall never happened.

Shannon

from generation to generation
The History Center in Tompkins County
Shannon Lindridge, Collections Manager
401 East State Street, Suite 100, Ithaca, NY 14850
607.273.8284 ext.7 (FAX) 607.273.6107
www.TheHistoryCenter.net <http://www.thehistorycenter.net/>
Please note my new email address: [log in to unmask]
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Joachim Huber, Prevart GmbH
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 4:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Mooving extremely fragile historic flags and banners - more
detailed information concerning the problems


Hello again,

I'll try to explain the problems with our fragile flags a little bit
more in detail. We did discuss the problem with textile conservators -
but we couldn't find (till now) a reasonable or even feasable solution.

in detail some of the problems are:
problem #1 the storage is in a historic building with no elevator and a
very (very) narrow staircase where even two persons can hardly cross ...
The objects have to be moved from the second floor to the ground floor.
problem #2 some flags are as big 2.5 x 2.5 metre - I couldn't think of a
mobile sucction table
problem #3 some flags are painted and/or guilded an therefore very
fargile and not really flat
problem #4 most of the flags are missing the poles but the end where
they were attached to the pole are stiff and three dimensional these
part would break under any pressure
problem #5 most flags are very dirty which seems to have caused much of
the damage in the passed decades (soot of the nearby street)
problem #6 some flags were sewn in a net and now falling appart in
single pieces which are in some cases as small as stamps ... some flags
consist of dozens of fragments
problem #7 we have 800 flags of which 10% are in some way in the above
described condition...
problem #8 the move must be solved within the next 15 months because of
future building campaigns
last but not least problem #9: these flags are just a very small portion
of a move of more than 400'000 objects to knew premises ...
problem #11 imagine any other problem (including funding) as you like it
- we probably will have it

have a nice week end
Joachim

--
___________________________________________________________

Prevart GmbH - Museumsplaner - Konzepte für die Kulturgütererhaltung
Oberseenerstrasse 93
CH-8405 Winterthur
T + 41 (0)52 233 12 54
F + 41 (0)52 233 12 57
e-mail [log in to unmask]
www.prevart.ch

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