Analysis of Temperature and Humidity Variables: Considerations for Preserving a Beacon Hill Legacy

FAIN: PG-50130-07

Nichols House Museum, Inc. (Boston, MA 02108)
Flavia Cigliano (Project Director: May 2006 to June 2008)

The assessment of environmental conditions and the development of a plan to preserve collections of household furnishings, decorative and fine arts, textiles, and archives stored and displayed in the Nichols House, an 1804 four-story brick townhouse attributed to architect Charles Bullfinch. Ninety percent of the collections are original to the Nichols family who lived in the house from 1885 to 1960.

The Nichols House Museum proposes to retain environmental consultants from the Landmark Facilities Group (LFG) to complete an assessment of the internal environment of the institution. This project is subsequent to a preservation project started in 2002 with a grant awarded by the NEH for the purchase and installation of data loggers to monitor the environment of the museum. The project has two phases: (1) a building physical inspection and (2) an evaluation of the monitored performance gathered and recorded by data loggers for the past two years. The museum has completed a two-year cycle of collecting data and is now prepared to ask LFG environmental engineers to analyze the data and recommend ways to improve and/or maintain the museum's environment to best protect the collections, while maintaining the integrity of the building.