Draper, Steven GS11-1CD Museum Dir <[log in to unmask]> wrote in
message
...>     My problem is how do I get started?  If your museum has worked with
> travel trunks could you send information on your program.
> Steven C. Draper Director  1st Cavalry Division Museum
> =========================================================
From my experience years ago ...
1. Keep trunks (read 'boxes' as an alternative) light enough to be handled
by docents, teachers etc.  [We made sturdy but overly heavy plywood trunks
for our coal mining kits at one museum I ran.]
2. Make trunks sturdy - in your case acquiring surplus US Army footlockers
might be a ready-made answer.
3.  Keep trunks small enough to fit in the mode of transport to be used.
E.g. will it have to be moved in a passenger car? [I recall damaging my
sedan trying to get a trunk into the back seat as it would not fit into the
trunk.]
4. Attach a laminated chart inside trunk's lid showing how to repack the
contents.
5. Consider ethafoam inserts with cut-outs for each item. A Cavalry spur for
example would have a custom nook, and it would be obvious if it was missing.
Ethafoam slabs can be layered. For accommodating large objects such as a
helmet, ethafoam slabs, or sections of them, can be glued together.
6. If trunks are to be shipped by bus for example, have a secure
lashing/locking system to prevent pilferage or having it burst open and
spilling the contents.
7. Have an inventory of contents and do condition/inventory checks whenever
it comes back to your museum.
8. It may be desirable to have a combination lock provided for the teacher
to reduce pilferage. If so, consider buying all trunks combination locks
with the same combination if possible.
9. Consider making duplicate trunks (identical in contents) to meet the
demand and to serve as spares.
10. If including headgear the kids will try on, consider the problem of
lice.
11. Teacher's guide, reference material, laminated photos, teacher's
checklist, laminated masters of documents for photocopying (e.g. attestation
papers that kids could fill out) should be at the top and visible as soon as
the lid is opened.
12. And last, but maybe not least - consider where you will store the trunks
when they are not on the road.
--
Colin Macgregor Stevens
Museum Curator
Burnaby Village Museum
6501 Deer Lake Avenue
Burnaby,  BC, V5G 3T6,  CANADA
Phone: (604) 293-6500  FAX: (604) 293-6525
Business e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Museum Webpage:
http://www.burnabyparksrec.org/villagemuseum/villagemuseum.html

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