Purchase of Data Loggers for Vizcaya Museum and Gardens

FAIN: PG-52292-14

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust, Inc. (Miami, FL 33129-2831)
Remko Jansonius (Project Director: May 2013 to April 2015)

The purchase of dataloggers that would enable the museum to better understand the environmental conditions in the Gilded Age home built between 1914 and 1922 for American businessman James Deering (1858-1925). The collections at Vizcaya, which is a National Historic Landmark, include Renaissance tapestries, ancient Roman sculptures, Chinese ceramics, Rococo furniture, European paintings, along with nearly 1,000 linear feet of archival collections including photographs, correspondence, blueprints, and financial records related to the construction and management of the estate.

The Vizcayans requests a $6,000 grant to purchase 20 PEM2 data loggers to strengthen environmental monitoring and data analysis activities for Vizcaya Museum and Gardens' interior and archival collections. Vizcaya is a historic house museum and its interior collections consist of more than 2,500 objects that were acquired in the 1910s to build, furnish and decorate this Gilded Age estate. Representing 3 continents and spanning 2,000 years, the interior collections include ancient Roman sculptures, Renaissance tapestries, Chinese ceramics and Rococo furniture. Vizcaya's archives contain over 35,000 photographs and documents, the vast majority of which date to the estate's construction. The analysis of data collected via these loggers will enable Vizcaya to further strengthen preservation activities. Moreover, the collection of accurate environmental data is critical as Vizcaya plans to replace its aging HVAC system and make improvements to the envelopes of its historic buildings.