Equipping Historic Deerfield to Monitor the Museum Environment

FAIN: PG-52415-15

Historic Deerfield, Inc. (Deerfield, MA 01342-0321)
Amanda Lange (Project Director: May 2014 to October 2015)

The purchase of environmental monitoring equipment for Historic Deerfield’s 12 historic houses, collection storage areas, and exhibition galleries in the Flynt Center of Early New England Life.  Historic Deerfield retains its original scale and 17th-century layout because the majority of its historic houses remain on their original foundations.  The museum’s 30,000-object collection includes New England Furniture, English and Chinese ceramics, European and American textiles, costumes, needlework, American silver- and metal-ware, and American and English paintings and prints.  Historic Deerfield’s staff has produced numerous exhibitions and publications about the collections, such as Woodworkers of Windsor: A Connecticut Community of Craftsmen and their World, 1635-1715, and outside humanities scholars have used the collections in works on French and Indian raids, furniture, stoneware, and material culture.  In addition to receiving visitors and staging community events, the museum provides field visits and internship opportunities for professors and students of the Five College Consortium of Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College, and University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The NEH preservation assistance grant would support the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment for use in Historic Deerfield’s exhibition galleries, collection storage areas, and historic houses. With more than 30,000 objects and 12 historic houses open to the public, the addition of monitoring equipment with reporting and tracking capabilities will allow the museum staff to gain a better understanding of these environments, analyze that data using state-of-the-art online programs, and then make changes to improve these environments. The grant also provides training with a conservator on the use and placement of these monitoring devices as well as interpretation of this data by experienced professionals via password protected access.