IPM-Working Group’s visit to the Peabody Museum’s Collections Study Centre at  Yale University West Campus.

Wednesday 16^th March 2016

On the first bright-sky breezy New England day of the IPM-WG meeting, my colleague and I joined the group showing no sign of jet lag (yet) and were driven to the West Campus to visit the newly opened Centre that houses the Institute for Preservation of Cultural Heritage Labs, the Yale University Art Gallery collections and the Peabody Museum Collections.

We were treated first to a visit to the main Conservation Lab build in the site of a former pharmaceutical factory, where the safety showers for employees about to enter the adjacent packing room used to be.

 

Ian McClure, Chief Conservator, guided us through the Lab, a light and airy facility with plenty of space and natural light where Native American objects share the space in weirdly appropriate manner with early European oil paintings, 1960s light sculptures, and state-of-art conservation equipment, forming a very impressive, yet somehow humane and comforting space.

We then walked down the glass corridors surrounding the courtyard to meet Dr. Paul Whitmore, Director of the Aging Diagnostics Lab who introduced us to his machine capable of measuring, by spectrum analysis (if we got this right) the vulnerability of colour to fading over time when exposed to light, the microfading tester is a fantastic piece of kit that allows collections managers and conservators to asses whether an object can be displayed safely and for how long. You can learn more about Dr. Whitmore’s work by reading his papers at the JAIC journal and other academic publications.

After that we visited the phenomenal facility that is the Digitisation Centre, the very knowledgeable specialist in charge of the Centre, Chelsea Graham, showed us a variety of impressive tools such as a custom-built RTI kit and 3D imaging equipment.

We moved on to the Art Collections area where the refurbishment work has already been completed and the collections staff were busy unpacking and re-housing objects from Yale University’s Art Gallery to shiny, new “Viking” cabinets. Bianca Ruthven kindly showed us the study and storage display facilities.

 

The grand finale was a visit with Maureen White to the Peabody Museum’s Anthropology Division’s space where spears of all size and manner from around the world mix with the IPM challenge that represent an accumulation of hundreds of wicker and other organic material made baskets.  This space also accommodates the historic scientific instruments. The rehousing in this collection space is a work in progress while the divisions awaits necessary funding.

After the guided visits to the Centre, the group attended the two scheduled presentations: the first one by Dr Nikolaus Wilke, Conservator at Thermolignum ltd. was a very informative and detailed talk describing the Thermolignum treatment system for pest eradication using heat and controlled RH. Dr. Wilke described several fascinating case studies of the use of their technology to save precious cultural heritage objects.

The second talk was delivered by Dr Lukasz Bratasz, Head of the Sustainable Conservation Lab at Yale University.

Dr Bratasz gave us a fascinating talk with a new perspective in sustainable preservation; using well presented data and insightful analysis he challenged the current mainstream guidelines in environmental parameters and made his case for a more flexible, informed and realistic approach to achieve sustainability in the fight to secure a future for cultural and scientific collections.

And so to bed…

Snug as a bug in a rug.

Sue Ryder and Armando Mendez, IPM Coordinators at the Natural History Museum, London.

Sponsored by the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
March 16 – 18, 2016

The Integrated Pest Management Working Group (IPMWG) is grateful to long-time supporter Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History for hosting the 2016 meeting. These proceedings will build on the success of 2014’s Williamsburg conference MuseumPests 2014: Integrated Pest Management for museums, libraries, archives and historic sites and the expanded working group program hosted by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Conservation Institute in Suitland, MD in 2015.

As always, the IPM Working Group meetings are designed to help institutions with active IPM programs by bringing individuals together to tackle projects related to particular pest related challenges.  All information resulting from these collaborations are placed on the museumpests.net website for the benefit of the cultural heritage community.  The IPMWG meetings do not teach IPM and are not appropriate for individuals not working with an active IPM program.  For more information on establishing a program please consult the museumpests.net website.

The 2.5-day program for 2016 will begin in the afternoon of Wednesday, March 16 with a series of optional tours and talks held at Yale University’s West Campus facility.  Tours will highlight collections in the Peabody Museum and Yale Art Gallery as well as the new Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, including their research, conservation, and digitization labs. A presentation by staff of the European company Thermo Lignum is also planned.

The subsequent two days (March 17-18) will return to the traditional IPMWG schedule focusing on further development of the online content for the museumpests.net website.  Short 5-10 minute presentations by participants on IPM related at their home institution are interspersed with the work sessions.  If you would like to present to the group please indicate your interest when you RSVP for the meeting.

There is no fee for attending the program but participants are responsible for their own travel, room and board.  Additionally participants are expected to take on an assignment that will result in content for the MuseumPests.net website.  The two and one-half day program is by invitation only as space is limited.  To request a spot please RSVP by emailing thechair@museumpests.net, and please include IPM-WG 2016 meeting in the subject line. Your request must include name, address (company/institution), phone # & email address.  RSVP’s will be accepted through March 1.  Priority will be given to returning participants on a first come, first serve basis and to new participants who are actively involved in an IPM program in their institution.

Confirmation of a spot for the meeting will be made via email and participants will receive a welcome packet via email with additional information on schedules, accommodations and other relevant information.