Environmental Improvement Assessment for the R.I. Bong WWII Heritage Center Collections Storage

FAIN: PG-50004-07

Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center (Superior, WI 54880-6845)
Gina L. Sacchetti (Project Director: May 2006 to May 2008)

Hiring a consultant and purchasing environmental monitoring equipment to conduct an environmental study of the center's storage room. The collections include military uniforms, service records, medals, weapons, aircraft, and machinery related to the Second World War.

The R. I. Bong WWII Heritage Center (BHC) is requesting an NEH Preservation Assistance Grant for Smaller Institutions to hire Rebecca T. Ellis, environmental control consultant of Questions & Solutions Engineering, Inc. Ellis will perform an on-site environmental study focusing specifically on the problem of fluctuating temperature, humidity, and air flow in the BHC's Collections Storage Room. She will identify, evaluate, and recommend options for improving climate control and produce a written report containing practical remedies for solving the problems. The BHC curator will purchase several temperature/RH/air flow data loggers to record environmental conditions prior to and after the consultant's visit. This project, scheduled to start January 2007 and end December 2007, is documented in BHC's recently completed NEH-sponsored General Assessment Survey Report as the critical next step in its humanities preservation efforts.