Environmental Monitoring Systems to Preserve Art and Archival Collections

FAIN: PG-51717-12

Asheville Art Museum Association, Inc. (Asheville, NC 28801-3521)
Frank Thomson (Project Director: May 2011 to March 2014)

The purchase and installation of environmental monitoring equipment for a collection of 3,060 works of art that includes American paintings and prints of the 20th and 21st centuries as well as art and crafts documenting the diverse cultural heritage of western North Carolina: Cherokee, German and Scotch-Irish, and African American. The museum also holds nearly 5,000 drawings of the Asheville Architecture Archives.

The Museum currently holds 3,060 works of art in all media and 4,905 architectural drawings. The Museum’s collections represent the unique diversity of cultures and movements that have influenced Western North Carolina and beyond. The Museum’s role is to research, collect and explore the artifacts of these traditions through innovative exhibitions and public educational programs. By developing exhibitions and programs for its patrons, the Museum educates audiences of all ages, explores aesthetic and cultural issues and integrates the arts and humanities into everyday life. In order for the Museum to properly monitor humidity, temperature and lighting conditions and protect these significant exhibited and stored works, the Museum requests $4,839 to support the purchase of new environmental monitoring systems for the Museum’s collections and galleries, including 10 PEM2 dataloggers, associated software, one PEM2 flash drive, one ELSEC 764 Environmental Monitor and all shipping costs.