PRC BRMA Environmental Monitoring and Collections Storage Improvements

FAIN: PG-266670-19

Wilmington College, Ohio (Wilmington, OH 45177-2473)
Tanya Maus (Project Director: January 2019 to April 2025)

The purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and storage furniture to support the preservation of 81.5 linear feet (40,000 documents) chronicling the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the international nuclear disarmament movement from the 1950s through the 1970s.  The collection contains atomic bombing survivor testimonials, correspondence among Japanese and American nuclear disarmament activists, newsletters, photographs, slides, audiovisual materials, and scientific reports authored by the United States Atomic Bombing Casualty Commission.

This project pursues two key preservation improvements for the Wilmington College Peace Resource Center Barbara Reynolds Memorial Archives (PRC BRMA), an extensive collection of documents, photographs, artifacts, and audio/visual materials pertaining to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear disarmament movement history, and the Cold War. The purchase of environmental monitoring equipment will allow for a year-long assessment of temperature, humidity, and light at the PRC BRMA. The data will be shared with the College’s Physical Plant to create a long-term plan for stable environmental conditions for archival preservation. The PRC BRMA also seeks to improve collections storage by purchasing powder coated steel shelving and a map cabinet for its rare Japanese-language scholarship and poster exhibit collection, which are currently housed on wood-stained shelving. Powder coated steel shelving will remove the threat of off gasses from wood stain and the wood itself.