Improving Storage Capacity for Collections Preservation
FAIN: PG-271776-20
Alice Austen House Museum (Staten Island, NY 10305-2002)
Victoria Munro (Project Director: January 2020 to January 2023)
The purchase of equipment to improve climate control in the upstairs storage room, creation of additional space for storage, Preservation 101 training for staff provided by the Northeast Document Conservation Center, and implementation of inventory management practices identified in consultation with the Historic House Trust. The Alice Austen House holds a collection of objects, letters, photographs, and audio recordings related to the life and work of Alice Austen, part of the first generation of women photographers in America; Gertrude Tate, her partner of 53 years; and their friends and family. The collection consists of correspondence, objects, photographs, and oral history recordings: 15 archival boxes of letters, one binder of calling cards, household objects, photographs, and 25 cassette tapes of oral history recordings. These offer a unique window into Victorian social norms, New York City history, LGBTQ history, and early twentieth-century life.
Friends of Alice Austen House requests funding to support improvements to storage capacity in its second floor collections room in order to house more objects, prioritizing accessioned items found in the inventory of our basement collections room. To ensure that collections best practices are in effect as the project is implemented and after, this proposal includes training in preservation basics for the Alice Austen House Collections Associate.