Back in the mid-eighties at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City we
re-designed and installed the Weapons Gallery. We utilized an historic
photograph of a gunsmith inside his shop for an intro panel (I believe it
was a 3M Scanamural). Most of the firearms were mounted on plexiglas panels
that floated in front of painted backdrops depicting the history of weapons,
starting with poison darts and coming around full circle with punji (sp?)
sticks from Viet Nam. The hardware mounts were fabricated for each firearm,
a rather time intensive project. The exhibit is still there, and may be
worth a visit for you (probably a 5-6 hour road trip). Ask for Doug
Southerland, Director of Exhibits, if you go.

According to SOHS Collections Department:
>We are reinstalling a portion of our firearms collection in two narrow
>cases designed to be inside a late 19th century gundealer/gunsmith's
>shop. I haven't found any historic photographs of the interior of a
>local merchant's store to help me decide how to accurately mount the
>firearms. Does anyone else have evidence of historically correct
>mountings? Should the firearms be placed vertically or horizontally? And
>should the back of the cases be lined with any material (e.g. felt) or
>left bare wood? Suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

>
***************************()()()()()()()()********************************
Jim Gilmore, Curator of Exhibitions
Redding Museum of Art & History           [log in to unmask]
PO Box 990427, Caldwell Park              916)243-8801
Redding,CA 96099-0427                     fax 916)243-8929

Museum Web Page:http://www.shastalink.k12.ca.us/www/rmah/RMAHmain.html