COLLECTIONS CORNER:: Organizing the Collection

     Since beginning in mid-August, one of my biggest tasks has been to re-organize and re-store the object and archival collections.  The picture on the right shows how the storage area in DAAHA looked before I began on this project.  This is only one out of five shelves in the storage area, which has boxes stacked all the way to the top.  Most of the boxes are filled with documents pertaining to the DeKalb Agricultural Association, but what was a surprise to me was the collection of objects housed in these boxes as well.  The first step to take was to determine if the objects or the documents were more important than the other.  With help from the DAAHA Board members, cataloging and rehousing the objects became the top priority.  By knowing what types of objects DAAHA has I will be able to establish what needs to be collected in the future to expand our collection.

     Many interesting objects have been found so far – from a modern day corn hook to an embosser used by the DeKalb AgResearch department in the late 1930s.  We even have numerous DeKalb jackets and shirts. Though I am only halfway through the process of cataloging the objects originally given to DAAHA in 2005, I have documented over 260 artifacts, most pertaining to the DeKalb Company, and I still have many more to go through.  Not only do I have the original collection to record, but also I have over twenty donations consisting of multiple objects in each donation from generous DAAHA supporters that I need to examine and arrange within the existing collection.

     While I catalog the objects, I also work on storing these items in an appropriate manner to preserve for future generations.  When I began, boxes held both documents and objects.  This should not be done because either the object or document could be damaged if left inappropriately stored for a long period of time.  In addition, some of the boxes contained many objects, which caused the container to become too heavy and damaged the box and storage material.  As an example, in the above left picture,  you can see the jackets were not hung in a correct manner.  Thus, I had to find a solution and institute a new way to store the collection.  The picture on the right demonstrates the new system I am following, which is a standard for museums.  Each box contains a certain amount of objects that can fit properly within and will not harm each other from deterioration or damage.  Once the box is filled, I place it on a temporary shelf in the storage area since that space will be reorganized once I finished cataloging everything.

     We have had to rearrange many things around the museum that it almost appears as a tornado has hit DAAHA.  One thing that has been taking up a lot of space in our work area, is the sorting of archival material that our curator/educator has been working on.  Though it looks like a cluttered mess in the picture on the left, Jenn is separating each document so she can determine if documents are new, similar to each other, or duplicates of those documents already in our collection.  Jenn needs to spread the documents out on the tables to get a good look at everything as well as to determine its condition. After her assessment, documents are placed in appropriate folders and each new folder is placed in an archival box so that when it comes time to catalog the archival collection everything will be in order and easier to go through.  

     I hope that in a month from now, I will have a new update for you on this project and that the storage and exhibit space of the museum will be coming together in a cleaner manner.