Organization of the collection and your institution's needs may help you define how to proceed with your ribbon collection.  I would first consider my museum's mission statement and collecting strategies.  Based on that I would keep what fit both mission and strategy and deaccession the rest.   Condition is another matter.  Some ribbons may be rare and/or important, but in poor condition.  You will have to consider them individually.  Whatever remains would be organized by type, organization, or date of ribbon.  As for storage, ribbons are not easy to store unless you make individual cradles or backings for each.  That can be relatively easy by cutting gray board to fit each ribbon.  The sides can then be folded up or the ribbons can be attached to each piece of grayboard.  If you store them in drawers without individual protection, they will slide around and bump into each other.  I can't speak to educational use, but some organizational researchers find ribbons useful in giving them a picture of what issues were dealt with at particular conventions.  
 
Jeff Tenuth
Indiana State Museum
Indianapolis, Indiana 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Megan Oleksa
Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2007 2:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Convention Ribbons

Hello!
Our Museum has a very large collection (thousands) of convention ribbons and we are trying to decide how to move forward with them.  They were accessioned in groups but many of them are severely damaged and are not suitable for display (some ribbons in the groups are still in good condition).  If you have a ribbon/badge collection, can you recommend storage procedures?  Do you frequently use them for education or have researchers request to see them?  Any help that anyone can offer is much appreciated!
 
Megan
Collections Manager
FASNY Museum of Firefighting
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