Environmental Monitoring of the Wilderstein Mansion

FAIN: PG-51018-10

Wilderstein Preservation (Rhinebeck, NY 12572)
Duane A. Watson (Project Director: May 2009 to November 2011)

Funding supports the purchase of dataloggers and hiring a consultant to establish an environmental monitoring program at Wilderstein, a Queen Anne-style mansion that served as the home of three generations of the Suckley family in New York, from 1852 to 1991. The project will enable the museum to assess the impact of environmental conditions on the Suckley family collection of furniture, paintings, decorative arts, household tools, kitchen implements, photographs, and personal papers.

A monitoring project in the Wilderstein mansion, home to permanent exhibits and special collections in all formats, will use dataloggers over a twelve month period to aid in planning an upgrade of the environmental system and to determine the most stable areas for storage of various types of collection materials. The project will be guided by a conservator who will train the curator and others to install, monitor, and analyze data from the twelve dataloggers.