Jeffrey:

The short answer to your question is, the difference between storing a
few pieces and storing lots of pieces is that you need more space and
supplies to store more stuff.

Some of your WWII objects--including cotton or wool shirts or blouses
and jackets, possibly pants, skirts, and other items--can probably be
safely hung.  Make sure your hangers are covered with clean muslin and
preferably padded.  Each object has to be individually assessed as to
its strength.  For upper body garments or dresses, the weight of the
piece hangs from the shoulders.  Any items with significant
weight--often dresses-- needs to have the heavy areas supported by means
of sewn-on ties, or to be stored flat.  Shirts and blouses are usually
lightweight enough that they can be hung.  Check any and all hung items
periodically to ascertain any signs of weakness in the shoulders.  It is
also important to cover your racks (or build them into covered
cabinets), as dust and light falls on the shoulders and exacerbates the
problem.

For costume objects stored on shelves, you can lay out clean muslin or
sheets under the pieces, and then cover them with muslin or sheets.
This can be an interim measure until you can get better storage
materials.  Try to keep like-materials (wools and silks, cottons and
linens) together, as well as like colors (don't place a black silk coat
on top of a white cotton blouse).

Hope this helps--

Pat Roath
Historic Costume Care
[log in to unmask]

Jeffrey Bilderback wrote:
>
> Hello everyone.  This is my first attempt at posting so please excuse any problems.  I am writing to request any suggestions regarding possible storage methods for a lot of World War II clothing.  This includes shirts, pants and coats (quite heavy).  I have put together shelving and storage systems for smaller amounts of clothing, but when it comes to thousands of items I would like some suggestions.  I have read about various methods of storage units for clothing, but these typically address only small numbers of items.  For smaller numbers I have utilized large acid free boxes to store the items;  however, I do not know if I will be able to convince my superiors to purchase a thousand or so acid free containers (I can see University Products frowning with this statement).  For obvious reasons I would like to avoid hanging the articles of clothing, although this would be a space efficient manner of storing them.  I would be more than happy to build some shelving to support !
and protect them (utilizing metald shelving, mylar, muslin, etc...) but I would first like to gain some insight into possible alternatives.  If anyone has some experience or plans that address this issue could you please throw them to my email or to the list.  Thanks a lot.
>
> Jeffrey Bilderback
> Collections Manager
> Mighty Eighth Museum