=?iso-8859-1?Q?Marie=2DJos=E9e?= Lebel <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Elizabeth Watkins wrote: >> >> I'm interested in exploring the types and nature of relationships between >> museums and architectural preservation/heritage concerns and programs. >> Can anyone recommend any recent readings and/or contacts? >> I'm not sure exactlyu what type of relationship betweenb architectural preservation and museums you're interested in..... if you're talking about museums in historic structures, I've been through alot of that ( 5 years Park Service, 5 years Architect0... Most of the time, I'd say that either the building or the collection suffers in this type of relationship, what's good for the building is bad for the collection, and visa versa. For example, Curators want climate control for organic artifacts, and rightly so. Buildings built in the era before air conditioning are not designed for it (no vapor barriers, insulation, etc.) so you end up with water condensing in parts of the building, old wood structural elements will twist and warp as the humidity and conditions they've experienced for however long is dramatically changed. A house museum I helped out in Miami had quite a collection of musical instruments. THey kept going out of tune, so the place was air conditioned to stabilize the environment. . The manager then noticed the floor boards were damp, and wanting to get rid of the moisture, cranked the a/c down lower. By teh time I was called, the floor was actually lifting from the joists due to the expansion of the floor boards. No one had thought to look under the house, where a very localized rainstorm was occurring... water was condensing on the underside of the floor boards, and dripping onto the ground. I could go on (and on), but I don't want to work myself into a lather this early in the day..... Rudd Long