General Conservation Assessment

FAIN: PG-51030-10

Mint Museum of Art (Charlotte, NC 28207-2012)
Martha Tonissen Mayberry (Project Director: May 2009 to October 2011)

Hiring a conservator to conduct a conservation assessment of the collections of the Mint Museum. The more than 33,000 objects of the museum are used in scholarly research and publications and in educational and public programming to explore the history of art, craft, and design around the world.

With the requested $4,978 Preservation Assistance Grant from the NEH, The Mint Museum will contract with conservator Katherine Singley to conduct a two-day conservation assessment of its entire collection. This wide-ranging collection contains more than 33,000 objects in two museum facilities. The Mint focuses its collection activities in six areas: American art, ancient American art, ceramics, contemporary art, contemporary craft, and historic costume. The overall goal of the assessment is to review current collection storage vaults and gallery installations with the purpose of improving the Museum's preservation and conservation conditions. The assessment will address all aspects of collection care, including museum environment, collections storage, exhibition techniques and conditions, policies, staffing dedicated to the preservation of the collection, and emergency planning/response. The conservator will develop a long-range preservation plan and prioritize the recommendations.