Assessing and Improving the Housing of the Access to Works on Paper

FAIN: PG-251921-17

University of Vermont and State Agricultural College (Burlington, VT 05405-0160)
Margaret M. Tamulonis (Project Director: April 2016 to June 2019)

The purchase of new flat file cabinets and environmental monitors to support the care of the Fleming Museum’s 5,300-item collection of works on paper. This project addresses two high-priority recommendations from a 2010 Conservation Assessment Program survey, namely better care of and access to high-use and oversized works on paper, and more accurate recording of temperature and relative humidity in storage spaces. Works to be rehoused include 33 etchings by 18th-century Italian printmaker Giovanni Piranesi, a collection of propaganda posters from World War I and World War II, and original Disney animation cels from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Oversize modern and contemporary prints and drawings by Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, and Andy Warhol would also be stored in the new flat files, allowing museum staff to accommodate requests from students and faculty to access these important works.

The Fleming Museum of Art proposes to improve its collections storage facilities with the addition of two new flat file cabinets and three environmental monitors. The Fleming collection consists of 24,978 items, including fine arts, ethnographic, and historical material, amassed since the University’s original “Curator’s Cabinet” began in 1827. We seek to significantly improve our storage of works on paper—primarily European and American prints, drawings, paintings, and photographs from the seventeenth century to the present—by replacing one outdated and difficult-to-use flat file cabinet and adding two new ones. By easing access to and handling of this part of our collection, which is frequently used by curators, faculty, students, and scholars, we will improve the condition of the works and prevent damage. Furthermore, the acquisition and installation of PEM2 monitors on 3 levels of collections storage will greatly improve environmental monitoring of our spaces.