This is one of my specialties and I would like to respond more fully, but am headed out of town until tomorrow afternoon or evening. I can respond more fully then. Following are my quick thoughts.

1) You do not want to have to fill a humidifier 2x a day, and then when you are not open, it does not get filled at all. This rapid rising and falling of RH can cause more damage than no humidification at all. Of course, it depends upon what type of objects are in the gallery and what moisture buffers are present. So, much preferred is a humidifier tied into a water line so it does not shut off when empty.

2) If you already have an air handling system, it may be easiest and most efficient to install a humidifier directly into the ducting, probably in the basement or mechanical room, of course tied to a water line. These do not have to be expensive or complicated. One example is the Aprilaire 350, which last time I looked was around $200. But there are other considerations, such as the size of the space being humidified. And I am assuming that the building was constructed to handle winter humidification without damage? This also is an issue.

American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
     4 Rockville Road
     Broad Brook, CT 06016
     www.conservator.com
     860-386-6058

*Collections Preservation Consultation
*Conservation Assessments & Surveys
*Environmental Monitoring & Low-Tech Control
*Moisture Management Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care Grant Preparation
*Conservation Treatment of:
     Furniture
     Painted Wood
     Horse-Drawn Vehicles
     Architectural Interiors
     Decorative Objects & Folk Art

Marc A. Williams, President
     MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
     Former Chief Wooden Objects Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
     Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)

----- Original Message -----

From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Jerrie Clarke

To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 5:18 PM

Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Humidifiers

We're a small museum wiht 2 floors of gallery space. We have a big humidifier in the basement that was installed and made part of our airflow system 25 to 30 years ago that doesn't work any more. We rarely need additional humidity here in the rain-belt of Alaska. However, during the cold part of the winter, it gets so dry in the lower gallery that the adhesive on the mounting tape holding the labels to the walls evaporates and the labels pop off the walls. I think a small room humidifer that we can put in the gallery for 2 or 3 months a year will do. Any suggestions?

Jerrie

Jerrie Clarke
Director
Sheldon Museum
PO Box 269
Haines, AK 99827
(907) 766-2366
fax: (907) 766-2368
www.sheldonmuseum.org

From: T. Ashley McGrew <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, August 6, 2012 9:08 PM
Subject: Re: All LED lighting in museums

Hi Stacy,

This is an ongoing topic with Preparators and there is interesting material on the topic that can be found on the PACCIN - Preparation Art handling and Collections Care Information Network (A Professional Interest Committee of AAM) website.

To cut to the chase though - yes current trends are towards the use of LED in museum lighting. On the site there is a link to what is probably the best resource available when starting to investigate its implementation. It is called "Guidelines for Selecting Solid-State Lighting for Museums" it is available from the Getty Conservation Institute and is available at this link.

http://getty.edu/conservation/our_projects/science/lighting/lighting_component8.html

There is an advantage though to not only understanding the theory but also the pragmatic side of things. The current state of the technology is addressed quite well on practical terms in a post in the lighting section of the PACCIN forum titled "LED food for thought from Clint Paugh". Clint is the lighting designer and interim manager of fabrication at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City Missouri and was generous enough to provide us with a valuable working perspective. The link to that thread is below.

http://www.paccin.org/showthread.php?536-LED-food-for-thought-from-Clint-Paugh

Best regards and good luck!

Ashley

T. Ashley McGrew

PACCIN Publications Chair

Art and Object -

Integrated Preservation Systems

3749 2nd. Avenue

La Crescenta, CA 91214

(646) 265 - 5526

[log in to unmask]

To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1