Preservation of Laramie Plains Museum Ethnographic and Native American Collections

FAIN: PG-50852-10

Laramie Plains Museum (Laramie, WY 82070-3243)
Connie Lindmier (Project Director: May 2009 to December 2010)
Judith Eddy Knight (Project Director: December 2010 to September 2011)

Hiring two consultants to provide training for the museum's staff on the conservation of 175 Native American and Chinese ethnographic artifacts and to guide them on modifying the museum's environmental controls, particularly ultraviolet light. The consultations are based upon recommendations from Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) and IMLS ReCAP assessments in 1997 and 2006 and a 2008 NEH Preservation Assistance Grant.

This project is to preserve 175 Native American and ethnographic artifacts at the Laramie Plains Museum. We will utilize two consultants, Ms Terri Schindel, Conservator, and Ms Lynn Brittner, Native American and ethnographic museum expert. The Museum Training Network's Mobile Lab will be rented for a 2-day onsite visit, one day for the consultants to advise preservation of beadwork, basketry, pottery, textile and other artifacts, and to make recommendations for improving the environment for storage of these artifacts. The second day will be a training to which 15 other area museum staff and volunteers will be invited, as well as our own. We will utilize a multi-purpose building on our city-block "campus" for this training. We will upgrade the storage closet in the 3rd floor Southwest "Tower Room" of the 1892 Ivinson Mansion, which is a historic house musuem as well as a local history museum collection.