In the University of British Columbia Anthropological Museum (Vancouver, B.C.)
are large cabinets with drawers that contain artifacts. These are visible per
drawer to the mueum visitor and had something similar to plexiglass
slotted/locked covers. I'm afraid I visited there over six years ago and from
the perspective of a half-day visitor during the Antho. Conference at Simon
Fraser, so do not have a detailed note of the materials used or contact person.

    The artifacts housed in these enormous wooden bureaus were representatives
from the various geographical areas, in the collections of the museum. I
thought it was an intelligent approach. It was in a low light area and the
artifacts were primarily in a dark drawer between viewings. Also the
possibility of rotating the artifacts to complement different exhibits seemed
possible. I spent hours viewing the drawers and along with their atrium-like
totem pole diplay area felt as if I had a chance to visit inside the
collections storage area.

Diane Rice

Angela Steiner Neller wrote:

> The Bishop Museum in Honolulu has an open storage area (Betty Tatar would
> be a good contact).  The Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit college
> (Jane Ketchum would be a contact there) has an open storage display as
> well.  Maybe someone from these institutions can provide insight into their
> design, use, public response, storage pros/cons, etc.  I particularily
> liked the open storage at Beloit primarily because it is basically a two
> story glass cube within an exhibits area.  Inside the cube is a collections
> work area on the first floor and storage room on the second floor with a
> small bank of compactor shelving.  A small "dumbwaiter" elevator provides
> access to these areas and to the basement storage rooms as well for the
> movement of artifacts (not people, its just about the size of an artifact
> cart).  They have moved their North American collections here so that they
> can use the work area as a consultation room for artifact viewing with
> direct access to all collections right there.  As far as the exhibit part
> of the open storage, they tried to address the concerns of light damage by
> installing special lighting which I don't know the specifics of.  I find
> open storage areas to be a very interesting concept surrounded by as many
> good solutions as problems posed.   Just some thoughts!
>
> Angela Steiner Neller
> Curator of Collections
> Ill. Trans. Arch. Research Program and the Laboratory of Anthropology
> Department of Anthropology
> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
> 103 Horticulture Field Lab, 1707 S. Orchard St.
> Urbana, IL  61801
> [log in to unmask]
> Ph: 217-333-0263
> Fax: 217-244-7458