Conservation Officer, Bob Entwistle, talks us through what his team has been doing to empty Ipswich Museum over the past few months:
‘Ipswich Museum is in the throes of a redevelopment. For the redevelopment to take place we are having to move all the objects out of the museum to prepared temporary stores.’
‘Just how do you empty a museum? We’ve got a, mammoth, a giraffe, birds, both BIG and small, skulls (one a whale), skeletons, a sledge, canoes, a mosaic, kayaks, dioramas, large lumps of stone or geological specimens as they are called, and one case containing over 500 Celtic staters. There is more but I’ve lost the will to carry on.’
‘One way of doing it is to prepare months in advance by thinking of all the things that can go wrong and frightening yourself stupid. Persuading the powers that be that we need boxes, scissors, knives, tape, crates etc and trying to get it all as cheaply as possible. Buying lots of acid free tissue, bubble wrap, Plastazote, Jiffy foam, plastic bags and sheets of Correx.’
‘One thing that is most important is a dedicated bunch of people, and volunteers, ready and willing to make Correx boxes and problem solve. We have been very lucky in our decant team of Carrie Calver, team leader and 4 big strong chaps. Everyone has brought their skills to bear on the problems of moving ship models and brown bears. From Tim knowing who takes sugar in their tea, very important; to young Ashley who has discovered his hitherto unknown carpentry skills.’
‘We have tried were necessary, to adhere to best practice and use safe acid free materials for packing, but where this is not necessary we have gone for cheaper alternatives. We have also been able to use wood recycled from our old displays to make crates for the objects. We had an ex member of staff, Ian Drake, come and make skeleton crates for lots of our skeletons from old wall units.’
‘We all know money is tight so recycling is good for the budget and the soul!’
‘The ingenious team have found ways of fitting lots of objects safely into boxes. They’ve been making trays so we can fit 2 layers of objects into boxes.’
‘Our next job is the herbaria, the flints, and the geology stores.’
‘I look at what we have done so far, the empty cases and empty galleries, and I sometimes believe we will actually be successful, and that this just might work out. Think positive Bob!’
Follow Bob’s daily progress at his Twitter account.
