Moving the Mountain

MovingMoving thethe Mountain:Mountain: GuideGuide toto MovingMoving CollectionsCollections COPYRIGHT Science Museum of Minnesota 2001 Everything you’ve always wanted to know about getting all that stuff from here to there... AN ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR MOVING THE MOUNTAIN Part I: History of the SMM Move Project This section, written by the major planners, describes the goals of the project and early planning considerations. Part II: Moving the Collections Section II presents an overview and analysis of SMM procedures written for the most part by the staff who actually carried them out. Planning Writing Grants Estimating Storage Requirements Scheduling and Staffing Estimating Costs Organizing Staff Collections Department Conservation Department Curatorial Departments COPYRIGHT Management Packing Finding Storage Space Buying SuppliesScience and Services Museum of Minnesota Using Volunteers Managing Projects Developing Packing Protocols Standalone Exhibits 2001 Hmong House NAGPRA Tracking Objects Offices and Laboratories Moving Staging Traffic New Building Storage and Unpacking Part III: Details This section includes an exhaustive description of our conservation technologies, written by the Conservator; the unique requirements of moving articulated fossils, from the Director of the Paleontology Program; and a close look at how the ethnology collections were put away in the new facility through the eyes of the Collec- tions Technicians who did it. Packing Methodologies Introduction Special Needs Criteria for Packing Definitions Mounting and Packing Methods The Special Case of Dinosaurs Unpacking Ethnology at the New Museum Appendices: Sample Forms Data Dictionary Protocols Status Reports Workplan for Biology Moving the Mountain: The Science Museum of Minnesota Guide to Moving Collections COPYRIGHT Science Museum of Minnesota 2001 Collections Management and Conservation Departments The Science Museum of Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota 1 AuthoAuthors:rs:Authors: Lori Benson Gretchen Anderson Deborah Schoenholz COPYRIGHTRose Kubiatowicz Andrew Redline Rebecca Newberry Science MuseumJackie Hoff of Minnesota Original Cartoons: Verne Anderson2001 Photography: Gretchen Anderson Rose Kubiatowicz Rebecca Newberry Tim Ready Ethan Lebovics PrProdoucductiotion:n:Production: Editing, Layout, and Design: Deborah Schoenholz Imaging: Tim Ready 2 EDITOR’S NOTE When the Collections Management and Conservation Departments at the Science Museum of Minnesota began actually packing our 1.75 million collected objects and specimens in 1997, we planned and un- dertook a staggering amount of tracking: for estimating cabinet/drawer requirements, for sending shipments to the correct destinations, for locating any item for any Curator at any time, for indexing against new storage locations, for ordering needed supplies and materials, for ensuring efficient and safe transport, Administrative Coordinator Debbie Schoenholz for easiest removal to new cabinets, and at her spiffy desk in the break room where she for daily packing schedules. worked for several months after ourCOPYRIGHT offices moved. Data was kept by collection “packing project” for calendar purposes (see the list on pages 33-34), but those projects did not necessarily correlate with curatorial definitions of specific collections. Our purpose in classifying certain types of objects as a single project was to pack them the same way and send them to the same place. Hence a curatorialScience collection may Museum have been broken into several of packing Minnesota projects that needed different packing methods and/or to be sent to different destinations. As collections unfolded before us item by item,2001 they were not always in locations or quantities we expected; many times we were surprised at a collection’s extent once we had unstacked the overpacked drawers and spread things out. Just as often our space and time parameters, set by the larger world of building construction and institutional policy, were altered so that we had no choice but to accommodate new deadlines or reduced support. I cannot emphasize enough how our planning evolved daily and how often everything we thought we knew was wrong. In light of these challenges, there were certain kinds of information that we did not seek. We did not track how many volunteer or staff hours were spent on each packing project, nor do we do know what percent of our supplies went to each. In some cases we do not know how many items make up a specific collection. Such information could be estimated from tracking records, sign-in sheets, and calendars, but the information on these daily-use documents often, even usually, changed in progress and was never corrected on paper. Our best estimates gained from such research would be innaccurate. And so we are offering our experience–as it happened–instead. Where we have useful data we have reported it; where we do not, we hope that our story will give you enough information to help you choose your own packing path. Always you may feel free to call or e-mail any one of us for more detailed discussion of specific issues. And whatever you do, Keep smiling. Deborah Schoenholz February, 2001 3 COPYRIGHT Science Museum of Minnesota 2001 Copyright 2001, The Science Museum of Minnesota St. Paul, Minnesota ISBN 911338-54-3 4 Table of Contents FOREWORD.................................................................................................................. 9 Lori Benson, Collections Manager PART I: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: HISTORY OF THE SMM MOVE PROJECT ...................................................11 Lori Benson OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................................... 11 RESEARCH AND COLLECTIONS PERSPECTIVE ................................................................................. 11 FUNDING........................................................................................................................COPYRIGHT ...................................... 13 PART II: OVERVIEW Science Museum of Minnesota CHAPTER 2: MOVING THE COLLECTIONS ....................................................................14 STAGE 1: PLANNING ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Lori Benson 2001 WRITING GRANTS .............................................................................................................................................. 14 ESTIMATING STORAGE REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................................................15 SCHEDULING AND STAFFING .............................................................................................................................. 16 Considerations in Developing a Schedule ............................................................................................. 16 ESTIMATING COSTS ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Packing Supplies and Materials ............................................................................................................... 18 Moving Vendors and Equipment ........................................................................................................... 18 STAGE 2: ORGANIZING STAFF ................................................................................................................... 21 Deborah Schoenholz, Administrative Coordinator THE COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT ............................................................................................ 21 CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT ........................................................................................................................... 23 CURATORIAL DEPARTMENTS .............................................................................................................................. 23 MANAGEMENT .................................................................................................................................................... 24 Tools............................................................................................................................................................ 24 STAGE 3: PACKING .......................................................................................................................................... 26 Deborah Schoenholz FINDING STORAGE SPACE .................................................................................................................................. 26 BUYING SUPPLIES AND SERVICES ....................................................................................................................... 27 USING VOLUNTEERS .......................................................................................................................................... 28 Scheduling .................................................................................................................................................. 29 Management Tools ................................................................................................................................... 30 MANAGING PROJECTS ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Project Definition ....................................................................................................................................

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