Orange County Historical Museum Collections Conservation Project

FAIN: PG-51931-13

Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County (Hillsborough, NC 27278-2535)
Brandie Elise Fields (Project Director: May 2012 to July 2014)

The conservation assessment of an 1877 flag of the Orange Guard Militia, a local military unit that served in the Civil War; three murals documenting the early history of Orange County, North Carolina, from 1701 to 1788; and two portraits of Hillsborough townspeople, including a signer of the Declaration of Independence, William Hooper. The grant would also support the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and preservation supplies as recommended in a 2011 assessment of the museum's collections.

: The Orange County Historical Museum, operated by the Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County, is seeking $6,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the Museum's efforts to better preserve its artifact collection. The $6,000 will support the contracting of two conservators to assess and provide treatment proposals on artifacts that have been identified as high priority pieces. In addition, one of the conservators, David Goist, will roll the Museum's three painted murals as well as assist the Director in setting up a collection monitoring plan. The $6,000 will also support the to purchase of three dataloggers to help monitor artifacts and documents, the purchase of a hepavac to allow to Museum to properly care for and clean its collection, the purchase of three thermohygrometers to monitor collections inside exhibit cases, and the purchase of an aspirated psychrometer to calibrate and ensure the accuracy of the dataloggers.