Museum of Culture and Environment Preservation Assessment

FAIN: PG-50895-10

Central Washington University (Ellensburg, WA 98926-7599)
W. Warner Wood (Project Director: May 2009 to September 2010)
Lynn A. Bethke (Project Director: September 2010 to November 2011)

Funding supports an assessment of storage conditions of the entire collection of 9,000 ethnographic and archaeological artifacts held by the museum at Central Washington University. Most of the holdings consist of ethnographic objects from the Northwest Coast, Central America and northern South America, New Guinea, and West Africa. Detailed condition reports will be prepared for 20-25 of the most endangered objects selected by the consultant.

The Central Washington University Museum of Culture and Environment (MCE) preservation assessment and long range planning project will evaluate the condition of the museum's collection and the environment in which it is stored, evaluate 20-25 individual objects, and lead to the production of a long range collections care plan. In Spring of 2010, DKS Conservation Services will conduct the preservation assessment and produce reports which will include recommendations for short, mid, and long term collections care goals. DKS will also conduct the object level assessment; the object level condition reports will include conservation recommendations for the individual objects. Taken together, the recommendations from these reports will form the core of a long range collections care plan, to be produced by the MCE by December 2010, which will identify object needs and long term care priorities. This project will lead to better care for the humanities collection at CWU.