Environmental Monitoring Program for Museum and Library Collections

FAIN: PG-50939-10

Society of The Cincinnati (Washington, DC 20008-3640)
Lindsay Borst (Project Director: May 2009 to October 2011)

Funding supports environmental monitoring in Anderson House, a National Historic Landmark that houses fine and decorative arts, historical artifacts, printed materials, and manuscripts focusing on the history of the American Revolution and the Society of the Cincinnati. Founded in May of 1783, the society was the first patriotic organization to memorialize the ideals of the new nation.

The Society of the Cincinnati seeks a Preservation Assistance Grant to support the purchase and installation of twenty-one dataloggers to record temperature and relative humidity in its museum and library collections storage and exhibition spaces. This project is crucial to improving preservation efforts and ensuring the long-term preservation of its important cultural collections, which document the history of the American Revolution, the Society, and Anderson House. This monitoring program will allow staff to better understand the environments in which collection items are stored and exhibited, identify risks that improper temperature or humidity levels may present, and develop a plan for effective management of existing mechanical systems. The project will begin in January 2010 and end in February 2011, after which staff will review one year of environmental data, make adjustments, and continue monitoring.