Fauquier County Gold Mining Museum Storage Assessment
FAIN: PG-266645-19
County of Fauquier (Warrenton, VA 20186-3037)
Larry Miller (Project Director: January 2019 to September 2019)
Gary Rzepecki (Project Director: September 2019 to present)
An assessment of the museum’s facilities that
would provide recommendations for improved environmental conditions, use of
space, and storage procedures for its collection of more than 6,000 items. Highlights
include objects related to the history of gold mining in Virginia, which took
place from 1805 to 1936, and artifacts from the Civil War Rappahannock Station Battlefield
in Virginia. Many of these items are presently in storage but would become more
accessible to researchers and museum visitors after implementation of consultant
recommendations for storage procedures. Since the museum is part of a small parks
and recreation department, the expertise of a qualified consultant is essential
to the success of lasting preservation efforts.
The NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions will fund two activities: 1) contracting with a collections management consultant to assess the existing physical and environmental conditions of the facilities where the collections of the Fauquier County Parks and Recreation Department are housed, and; 2) the creation of a report by the consultant on the findings of the assessment which will also include a plan with short term and long term recommendations to improve the conditions of the physical spaces and the storage techniques. The goal of this project is to better protect and preserve the Fauquier County Parks and Recreation Department collections, which include local artifacts from the historical facilities overseen by the Department and artifacts recovered from archaeological studies of departmental properties.