Hi Nancy,

 

I will agree with David.

 

As much as I love my three personal feline superiors, as well as the 15 or so cats that live on the grounds of the Old Cowtown Museum here in Wichita, they really would not serve an indoor situation well. An indoor cat will need to be fed and watered and as such will be less likely to be interested in doing anything but chasing or even watching the mice. Said food and water will itself draw pests. Keep in mind the vet care, grooming, poop scooping, and occasional desire for scratching in the middle of something only you find important, etc. The liability issues are legion.

 

Good luck.

 

Mark Janzen

Registrar/Collection Manager

Ulrich Museum of Art

Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection

316-978-5850

 

 

Nancy,

I think that cats may be Ok if a historic site has a barn or other fairly open work structure - I would not recommend one for a historic house or contemporary museum.

In addition to cats tearing up textiles and clawing furnitiure I would also add in two issues - outdoor cats often catch and kill small birds, mice, rats. So you have to be prepared for the public to not comment favorably on encountering that on your sites. The second issue is the liability issue if a person gets bitten or scratched by a cat. Even if the person was taunting the cat or grabbing it, you still have the very real issue of someone who gets hurt on your site by an animal that you feed and keep there. And cat scratch fever is very real as are rabies and other health issues that can be conveyed by an outdoor cat.

I was at Historic Ft. Ross, a CA State Park in Sonoma County,  some years ago and I remember seeing a cat on-site that lived under one of the buildings. Yes, the cat may have kept the field mice down but it did absolutely nothing about the biggest threat to the only remaining historic building, the Rotchev House, that was being devoured by termites.

So I think you need to assess each site from a risk management viewpoint and prioritize by the greatest threats to the buildings and collections. If the museum is on a flood plain near a river, then obviously floods may be your biggest concern. If the historic building is on ground-laid sills and there is a history of termites, well then that is more important that mice. A contemporary museum that has metal and stone sculptures is far less of a concern to pests than a museum full of Native American artifacts that have wood, bone, feathers, etc.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator and Museum Consultant
Los Angeles, CA
MindingTheMuseum.com

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