There is no simple answer to Christy's question, given the sheer range of
collections out there - how many artifacts, what kinds of artifacts and
their relative characteristics, etc. The ration is display space to storage
space is also governed very much by economics.

The Canadian War Museum holds literally millions of artifacts, ranging in
size and fragility from medal ribbons to main battle tanks. It also holds
something like 50,000 original works of art - one of the world's leading war
art collections. These range from small pencil sketches to enormous oversize
oil paintings from the immediate post-First World War period.

Merely housing such a collection imposes an enormous financial burden on the
museum and this is why the exhibition space in the new building now under
construction will hold only about 2% of the collection.Much more of the
collection WILL be somewhat accessable to the public through :open
collections storage" and this will include the guns, vehicles, aircraft,
etc..

A larger museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, has room to exhibit
perhaps 5% of its collection, but was an exceedingly expensive building to
build.

By contrast, I can think of many smaller museums, including art museums,
that routinely exhibit between 30 and 50% of their collections at one time.

There is no easy formula - it depends on what you have and what you can
afford.
--
Harry Needham, Principal ([log in to unmask])
Harry Needham Consulting Services Inc.
Solutions for Heritage Institutions - and Others!
74 Abbeyhill Drive
Kanata ON K2L 1H1 Canada
(Voice) +1.613.831-1068
(Fax) +1.613.831-9412

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