In the Interest of Fine Art: A Shelburne Museum Planning Project

FAIN: PF-287866-22

Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT 05482-0010)
Chip Stulen (Project Director: January 2022 to present)

A planning project to evaluate the environmental conditions in two buildings at the Shelburne Museum and develop a plan to implement improvements to their infrastructure in response to fluctuating temperatures due to climate change.

Shelburne Museum requests a Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections planning grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to evaluate deteriorating environmental conditions in two Museum buildings that house fine arts collections and develop plans to implement improvements to the buildings’ infrastructures considering climate change. In recent years, the Museum has seen deviations in temperature and humidity conditions within both structures, risking damage to the collections and coinciding with climate change in the region. Although both buildings are equipped with HVAC systems, the systems are near the end of life and are having difficulty maintaining desired environmental conditions. If awarded this grant, the Museum will embark on a two-year project to assess energy-monitoring systems in both structures, create schematic plans for improving the buildings' envelopes and systems to help maintain desired conditions, and select an option to pursue in the project's next phase.