Mechanical System and Storage Environment Assessment at the Museum of Chinese in America

FAIN: PG-233678-16

Museum of Chinese in America (New York, NY 10013-3601)
Yue Ma (Project Director: May 2015 to September 2017)

Hiring a consultant to assess environmental conditions and evaluate mechanical systems in the museum’s storage and off-site exhibition areas. The Museum of Chinese in America is a nationally significant and heavily used repository of materials documenting Chinese life in America. The museum’s collection contains over 65,000 documents, photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia, while the library contains an additional 10,000 audiovisual recordings, books, magazines, and newspapers. Central to the library’s holdings are its oral history interviews, which record the personal experiences of Chinese and Chinese Americans in the New York Chinatown area, and the only surviving physical copies of the Chinese American Times.

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) respectfully requests $6,000 to commission Jeremy Linden, an Environmental Specialist from the Image Permanence Institute to visit the collections space at 70 Mulberry Street and the exhibition space at 215 Centre Street in New York City to assess their mechanical systems. This would be the next step of a long-term effort to preserve an important collection that documents Chinese American history and culture. The project will allow MOCA to utilize the data collected by the data loggers that were purchased and installed last year with the help of an award from the NEH. The consultation with the Environmental Specialist will include analysis of the preservation quality of monitored storage locations for specific collection types and suggestions for sustainable environmental parameters which lead to optimal operation by providing the best possible storage environment and the least possible consumption of energy.