This might be the final installment of my blog for the summer as my time here at the Parksville Museum is rapidly coming to an end. However, the past month that I've been neglecting this blog has been rather busy. Lately I have been in contact with other local museums such as the Nanaimo Military Museum to organize the exchange of some items and to gain information on specific items in our collections. We have since then used this information to create new and informative exhibits.
Other projects I've been working on include stabilizing and reducing the relative humidity of some of our storage rooms. This has involved acquiring dehumidifiers, both chemical and electric, to help with this process. I have also begun quarantining some items that were beginning to show different types of decomposition. For example with a leather item that was beginning to show signs of mold, caused by high humidity levels. I wrapped the leather boots in an air tight plastic container and placed it in a dry freezer. This would halt the growth of any more mold spores, but it doesn't necessarily kill them. To prevent the spores from becoming active again once reintroduced to the, now stabilized, storage area I took the leather boots outside and gently brush the mold spores off the leather while using a vacuum, covered with a cloth filter to ensure no parts of the artifact were accidentally vacuumed up and lost. Some of the metal items I found that needed attention I placed into plastic containers with chemical dehumidifiers to try and halt any further oxidization. Once I am comfortable that they are stable within that environment I plan on taking them out and cleaning them using Canadian Conservation Institute's guidelines.
Other projects around the Museum I have been working on in the last month have included Changing around exhibits to ensure that all items are properly labeled. I've continued on entering items into our digital database, taking photos and doing research to get as much information on these items as possible. We have also gotten several people coming in asking us to go through our archives to find information on either their ancestors or the community itself. One person came in wanting to know more about their great grandfather who was killed during the First World War and we were able to use both our own archives and those of the forces war record to paint a fairly detailed history about this person.
In closing I would like to say that this summer has been absolutely fantastic. The museum manager and my co-workers have been extremely helpful and supportive throughout the summer without whom I would not have been able to learn from or enjoy this experience nearly as much.
