When I was working at the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, we experienced some
problems with what we called 'visible storage'.  The storage area was built
during a circa 1980 renovation of existing facilities and seemed to solve
the problem of a lack of exhibition space by providing public access to
view the main storage room.  The compactors were seperated from the public
by a glass wall and a long counter-top work area, so that visitors could
see curators in action working on the collections.

The problems we encountered centered on the ability to control dust, light,
heat and humidity in this space.  The presence of visitors, and the
location of the work areas, required the lights to be on at all times, and
caused fluctuations in temperature and humidity when large groups would
pass through.

It also required that the collections storage be relatively neat, that the
staff working in collections were also aways on display, and made it easy
for the public to ask questions. The public was thrilled with the idea of
seeing the collections and the staff working - the most frequent comment
was "I never would have guessed you had so many things here".

As a footnote, when the museum moved to a new building several years ago,
the new collection storage area was place far from the public view.

Mark Isaksen



Mark Isaksen
Administrative Director, Biodiversity Group
Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1195
215/299-1180
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