[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Container storage of archives collections



I've been in this situation since I started here almost 3 years ago. Our Association
made collecting anything possible its top priority, well ahead of having appropriate
storage for what it accumulated. For about five years, a good portion of our printed
matter has been stored in a converted beer trailer (you can still read the brewery
name and logo through a thin coat of paint on the outside walls), and the trailer has
been parked inside a metal building the entire time. Neither the trailer nor the
building has any climate control at all.  I've observed temperatures in excess of 120
degrees in the trailer in summer and in the 40's in  winter. The coldness is
alleviated by running an electric heater non-stop in the trailer throughout the
season.

When I started here, I also found dozens of motion pictures and videos as well as
thousands of photographs and slides both inside the trailer and on pallets on the
floor of the metal building.  One of my first official actions was to get this stuff
into whatever space I could carve out for it in the office. I've been raising cain
about the trailer ever since, and until recently the only response from the powers
that be was for them to obtain a second trailer to be used for storage until our new
building is completed (3 to 5 years from now?). However, at our Board meeting last
month, the decision was made to place our inactive collections in long-term offsite
storage with appropriate climate controls.

Best wishes,

Thomas Berry, Archivist
Historical Construction Equipment Association
16623 Liberty Hi Road
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone 419-352-5616
Fax 419-352-6086
tberry@wcnet.org
http://www.hcea.net


Maggie Humberston wrote:

> Dear List,
>
>         We're being required to move over 5,000 lf of archival materials to a new
> facility. Unfortunately, there has been a delay in constructing our new
> area, but we are being asked to vacate our current site so that
> construction can begin there also.
>
>         There is a proposal for short term storage of our materials which would
> involve packing them into locked 20 ft. trailer containers and storing them
> in a heated (this is questionable) garage attached to the building we will
> be occupying. The move would occur, at least in part, in February, and
> materials would be unpacked into the new compact storage area in June or
> July. The materials consist of bound volumes, many of which are newspapers,
> books, papers, and some photographic images. The proposed plan is to pack
> the lower level of the containers with the heavier bound volumes, and then
> stack archival boxes on top - up to a maximum of 5 levels -given the weight
> specs. of the boxes from the archival container companies.
>
>         My staff and I aren't really comfortable with this proposition from a
> collections care standpoint. We would appreciate hearing from any of you
> who have been in this situation.  We know that access to the materials will
> be out of the question and will have to live with that!
>
> A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
>       In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
>                     *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
> To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu
>
> Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
>      http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html
>
> Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>