Jason-

Since when are "all" artifacts treated the same?  Here at the State
Historical Society of Wisconsin we have four levels of care for our
artifacts based on their provenance, importance to the site, restoration
status, and usage.  As to your question, why store things in a safe, there
are lots of potential reasons.   But the main reason is that you put things
is a safe to give them a higher level of security.  This may be for a
variety of reasons such as the objects high monetary value, its rarity, or
its size.  Remember, alarms can be turned off and usually are during the
day, therefore safes can be used to protect against the theft of highly
valuable objects and documents.  I'm sorry to say, but there is a market out
there for historic objects and people who steal them are very good at it and
will take advantage of a situation.  My view has always been " What would I
do if that was my personal object" , from this I decide what level of
additional security is needed.  Your home my have an alarm on it, but rarely
do we not additionally lock up very valuable things such as medals, jewelry
and important papers.  I hope this very long winded answer will help.

Tracie Kay Evans
Curator of Collections
Stonefield Historic Site - SHSW
608-725-5210
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