Storage Shelving and Supplies for Dumbarton House Collections

FAIN: PG-51266-11

National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (Washington, DC 20007-3071)
Karen L. Daly (Project Director: May 2010 to September 2012)

The purchase of shelving and supplies to improve the storage of Federal-period fine and decorative arts and manuscript collections related to the history of Dumbarton House and the Nourse family that lived there from 1804 through 1813. The nearly 3,000-item collection is used to examine life in the early years of the Republic.

To appropriately house and store Dumbarton House [DH] collections to improve storage conditions in preparation for a move to permanent storage in a new, consolidated and dedicated collections storage space on site. Upon the advice of a collections care consultant we will purchase recommended storage materials and the Curator will rehouse the DH collection. This project provides immediate improvement to collections storage conditions while we go through the necessary planning steps to implement the fall 2008 CAP recommendations by Brian Ramer calling for DH to "prepare a collections storage plan that addresses space and equipment needs for a dedicated collection storage space." The collections items will be ready for direct transfer to new storage as soon as it is prepared, with no delays for object preparation and rehousing.