Installing Hanging Racks for Framed Collections

FAIN: PG-52276-14

Danish Immigrant Museum (Elk Horn, IA 51531-2116)
Angela Stanford (Project Director: May 2013 to July 2015)

The safe storage of approximately 575 framed paintings, prints, and works on paper on hanging racks, as recommended in a preservation assessment performed by the Midwest Art Conservation Center. The collection includes charters and images from a Danish fraternal organization, 19th-century landscape paintings of the Danish countryside, engraved marriage certificates, and immigration records. These works help to chronicle aspects of the Danish American experience, with subjects including life in Denmark, immigration, and life at home in America. The collection is available to researchers and the public through exhibitions and Web.

The Danish Immigrant Museum seeks funding for the installation of hanging storage racks for its collection of over 800 framed paintings, photographic prints, and works on paper. Currently there are six lateral moving hanging racks in the permanent storage facility at the museum that support oversized framed artifacts, unframed canvases, and pieces with ornate frames, totaling 225 objects or 28% of the framed collection. The remaining artifacts within the framed collection are housed in three slotted storage units that require the pieces to be slid in and out of position during handling; this form of storage places unwanted physical pressures on the framed pieces, as they are in constant contact with each other through the acid-free cardboard buffers. The installation of 12 additional hanging racks promotes best practices of preservation and storage of framed works, and in turn establishes a visually accessible storage system for the improved use of this humanities collection.