Shading Light, Protecting Collections

FAIN: PG-287842-22

Forbes House (Milton, MA 02186-4215)
Heidi Z. Vaughan (Project Director: January 2022 to October 2025)

The purchase and installation of ultraviolet light filters to protect the art and artifacts of the Forbes family, whose members worked for the Boston-based firm Perkins & Company in the 19th century China trade.

This project will address questions about light levels in the Forbes house by monitoring and recording those levels for one year. To mitigate damage while light levels are studied, UV filters will be installed on windows and doors where objects and archives are stored and/or displayed. This is the next logical step in a massive collections project, funded that IMLS, that builds on a CAP assessment completed in 2019 by conservator Barbara Magnum.