Environmental Monitoring to Improve the Care of Collections

FAIN: PG-51290-11

Newport Art Museum and Art Association (Newport, RI 02840-7405)
Nancy Whipple Grinnell (Project Director: May 2010 to January 2013)

The purchase of equipment and training of staff to monitor environmental conditions for a collection of 2,200 works of art by visual artists of Newport and southeastern New England. The museum holds works by such artists as Fitz Henry Lane, George Inness, John La Farge, Gilbert Stuart, Helene Sturtevant, Catharine Morris Wright, Dale Chihuly, Howard Ben Tre, Robert Hamita, and Joseph Norman.

The Newport Art Museum requests funds to support the purchase and implementation of an environmental monitoring system for installation in the collections storage and maintenance facility and exhibition galleries. The grant will also cover consultant fees to train the Museum curator and registrar on the use and installation of the equipment, as well as the interpretation of the data. The project consists of three phases that will occur over a twelve month period: training and installation of equipment; environmental data gathering; and weekly review and analysis of collected data. This project is supported by recommendations of a Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) collection survey performed in 2007.