I would personally recommend shallower shelves, 
with the individual objects grouped in trays 
(with sides slightly lower than the height of the 
drawer) without the boxes so that everything is 
one layer and visible but still able to be moved 
in groups to be studied or otherwise accessed. 
This reduces unnecessary movement that is caused 
when you have things stacked in boxes and 
increases visibility which is very important 
since you will see any potential problems/damage/mold/etc much sooner.
If the trays are measured to fit the slide out 
drawers, the space use can be very efficient and 
is much much easier for people who are managing 
the collection. It can be done in a more budget 
friendly way with trays made from cardboard 
instead of bought pre-made. You can make a 
template with some calculations and make them 
very quickly (or put interns or volunteers to work on them).

Elizabeth Walton

At 06:29 PM 5/11/2009, you wrote:
>Dear Museum-Lers –
>
>I am once again appealing to you with a question 
>about laboratory/curation equipment – many 
>belated thanks to those of you who responded to 
>my last query about fume hoods.
>
>This time around, I’m curious to hear from 
>anyone who has worked with compact storage (high 
>density mobile storage) for large archaeology 
>collections. We are committed to this type of 
>storage system, and I’ve been asked by the 
>architects to figure out what kind of options 
>we’d like for shelving configuration. Right now 
>I’m split as to which option will be best: open 
>shelving + file-sized archival boxes packed with 
>artifacts (typical of many working archaeology 
>labs and companies), versus units with pull out 
>drawers where artifacts would be housed in bags 
>but not large boxes. There are positives and 
>negatives to both, and ultimately cost may 
>determine what we choose. Either way, we’ll also 
>have some shelving space set aside for oversize 
>items and some allotted for records storage. I’m 
>curious to hear from anyone who has experience 
>with this type of storage system used for 
>sizeable archaeology collections. What was your 
>configuration like? Were there specific things 
>you loved? Things you wish you’d done differently?
>
>Thanks in advance your advice –
>aloha
>~Liz
>
>Presidio Archaeology Lab
><http://www.presidio.gov/history/archaeology>www.presidio.gov/history/archaeology
>(415) 561-ARCH
>
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