A solution I devised years ago for the Museum of York County in Rock Hill, SC, was to use the metal shelf bracket systems you can find in any DIY store. We installed the metal strips that are screwed vertically to the wall and then put the largest brackets I could find - I think they were for at least 18" wide shelves - on them at suitable intervals. We threaded galvanized pipe through the textile tubes and then just laid the ends of it over the shelf brackets, thus suspending the tubes. You might have to put stops on the brackets to keep your tubes from rolling off. The vertical spacing of your shelves can be adjusted to accommodate various diameters of rolls, and you may be able to put more than one tube per pair of brackets if the rolls are not too large. I'd be happy to provide a diagram if this is not a clear enough description.
Anne
Anne T Lane, Collections Manager
The Charlotte Museum of History
where history has a home
3500 Shamrock Drive
Charlotte NC 28215
704-568-1774 X110
Fax - 704-566-1817
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From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cass Karl
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 4:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Textile Storage Equipment
Nydia,
There are several "systems" available for storing large textiles, but, depending on your budget, space, and size of your collection you may be better off fabricating your own or repurposing something you already have. Would you like them to hang on the wall individually? Maybe you could anchor an ethafoam-wrapped pipe to the wall (similar to a horizontal paper-towel holder). Do you have a set of shelves that is big enough to hold them? Consider fabricating shelf liners or dividers to seperate and cradle the rolled textiles. Do you have a lot of large textiles? If you don't have space to separate them all (basically give them each their own shelf or bar), some of the lighter, more stable ones may be able to be stacked on shelves (existing or fabricated) and only a few hung or shelved individually. In short, the "systems" that are available are quite expensive and often don't *really* fit the needs of your collection. If you would like further advice on this, I would be happy to provide it. I have worked with several collections containing large textiles, and always found fabricating my own storage solutions to be the best choice for me.
On a side note- another thing I would advise is making sure all the relevent information about the textile (accession#/ object ID, size, even a small digital photo if possible) is on the *outside* of the wrapping so that no-one is tempted to open it unless they really need to. Even peeling back a corner of the muslin can cause the whole thing to come undone, and I know from experience what a mess it can be to have to re-roll all your textiles every time someone goes looking for something.
-Cass
On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 10:31 AM, Nydia M. Perez <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Good Morning,
My name is Nydia and I am an intern at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (Vizcaya for short) in Miami, FL. I am currently assisting in the Collections and Curatorial Sciences Department at Vizcaya on a Textile Storage Project.
Vizcaya has large textiles such as carpets, rugs and tapestries that we are to roll on tubes covered in acid-free tissue paper, then wrap in muslin and tie with twill tape. They are to be stored in an environmentally friendly area and I was wondering if anyone had ever had to store large scale textiles before? What were your methods? Were there specific racks used for storing them? Are there any specific companies that stand out?
Any information regarding the storage of textiles would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
Nydia
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