MS201: Storage for Infinity: An Overview of Museum
Storage Principles
Dates: Aug 31 - Oct 9, 2009
Price: $425
Instructor: Helen Alten
Location: online at
www.museumclasses.org
Description:
Storage for Infinity covers everything you need to know to limit
damage to stored collections. Participants will learn about building new
storage areas and retrofitting existing space. Other topics include
constructing support mounts and storage security. The material emphasizes
philosophy and planning, handling, materials and techniques.
Course Outline:
1. Introduction
2. Storage Philosophy
3. Agents of Deterioration and Preservation Planning
4. Storage Facilities
5. Storage Furniture
6. Preparing Collections for Storage
7. Storage Materials
8. Storage Mounts
9. Storage of Specific Collections
10. Funding Improvements
11. Conclusion
Logistics:
Participants in Storage for Infinity work at their own pace through
11 sections. Instructor Helen Alten is available at scheduled times
during the course for email support. Materials include PowerPoint
lectures, reading materials and lecture notes. Supporting resources
include message forums, weekly online chats projects, quizzes and links
to relevant web sites. The course is limited to 20 participants.
Storage for Infinity runs six weeks. To reserve a spot in the course,
please pay at
http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html If you have trouble please
contact Helen Alten at [log in to unmask]
Student Comments from MS201: Storage for Infinity: An Overview of
Museum Storage Principles:
My first online class. I plan to do more.
I am so glad that you offered this course. I found it very beneficial.
The most valuable part of the class will be the reference book I compiled
with all the lectures, forums, assignments, additional readings, etc.
This class contained a staggering amount of information … Something like
this is much more accessible, no travel expenses or 'lost' work time.
The layout of the web site made perfect sense to me. The flow of it was
easy to follow and it was nice to be able to see what things had
transpired/been posted.
You seem very approachable and knowledgeable, Helen. This was a good
opportunity for meeting new colleagues and networking.
You could not have decided to offer a course any more relevant to the
precise issues that our institution is currently dealing with. Tons of
detailed info. and a lot of practical help that will actually be useful
in daily operations.
This was my first online class and I believe that it was quite a success
thanks to the organization that was provided by yourselves. I did not
know what to expect but both of you have surely set a very high standard
of excellence in online courses.
The Instructor:
Helen Alten, is the Director of Northern States
Conservation Center and its chief Objects Conservator. For nearly 30
years she has been involved in objects conservation, starting as a
pre-program intern at the Oriental Institute in Chicago and the
University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed a
degree in Archaeological Conservation and Materials Science from the
Institute of Archaeology at the University of London in England. She has
built and run conservation laboratories in Bulgaria, Montana, Greece,
Alaska and Minnesota. She has a broad understanding of three-dimensional
materials and their deterioration, wrote and edited the quarterly
Collections Caretaker, maintains the popular
www.collectioncare.org web site, lectures throughout the United
States on collection care topics, was instrumental in developing a
state-wide protocol for disaster response in small Minnesota museums, has
written, received and reviewed grants for NEH and IMLS, worked with local
foundations funding one of her pilot programs, and is always in search of
the perfect museum mannequin. She has published chapters on conservation
and deterioration of archeological glass with the Materials Research
Society and the York Archaeological Trust, four chapters on different
mannequin construction techniques in Museum Mannequins: A Guide for
Creating the Perfect Fit (2002), preservation planning, policies, forms
and procedures needed for a small museum in The Minnesota Alliance of
Local History Museums' Collection Initiative Manual, and is co-editor of
the penultimate book on numbering museum collections (still in process)
by the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma. Helen Alten has been a Field
Education Director, Conservator, and staff trainer. She began working
with people from small, rural, and tribal museums while as the state
conservator for Montana and Alaska. Helen currently conducts conservation
treatments and operates a conservation center in Charleston, WV and St.
Paul, MN.