Storage - Principles

Ease of access, adequate space, use of appropriate materials and orientation all have a major effect on the quality of the storage conditions and their maintenance costs. With planning beforehand or during a reorganisation of an existing store area the museum can save deterioration on collection objects as well as cutting the costs of maintaining the best conditions.

Labelling storage areas serves as a directory and allows the individual to go straight to the right storage place after consulting the catalogue sheet or database. Labels for the shelves can be created using tape, tags or metal brackets such as those used in a library.

In the storage area, some practical storage techniques help preserve, control and provide access to the collection:

• Shelves should not be crowded as this will cause problems with access and possibly cause damage through objects touching each other or shelf collapse through excess weight.
• Heavy objects should be placed on middle or waist high shelves that will allow them to be handled more easily.
• Small items should not be placed on top shelves where they will be invisible. Placing them in shallow trays or boxes is a good storage solution for small items.

Ideally a glance at the storage room can provide a quick summary of the stored collection. Therefore it is a good idea to store objects in their collection area if this is possible. For example, all shelvable domestic history items should be located together and all craft items stored together. Of course some objects, namely documents, photographs and textiles require special storage attention and should be located by media rather than thematic concerns.

This is so that environmental concerns can be addressed, and storage designed according to the specific needs of different types of objects; and so that the storage will be practical. For example, paper-based objects, photographs, textiles and objects made from some organic materials have different storage needs than those items made of wood, ceramic, glass or metal. The practical requirements of size and weight etc also need to be considered.  It would be an expensive exercise for example to order a specific type of shelving (open plan, compactus or cupboards) only to find that most of the collection is too large or heavy to be accommodated. 

In a new museum that does not have a pre-existing collection to determine the shape of the storage facilities, the parameters of the interpretation and collection policies will assist in the decision making process. For example, it may be decided not to collect objects which are above a certain size, or which have other kinds of constraints on them in terms of storage needs. 

The size of the designated storage area needs to be considered in relation to both the area that is available for storage, and also the number of objects – or the size of the collection envisaged for the future. Again, as a new museum this will need to be determined more in relation to abstract, long-term considerations such as the future directions of the museum. It would be very frustrating to spend money and effort organising storage that will be inadequate before long.

Security needs to be addressed, particularly if very rare or valuable items are to be brought into the collection. If the storage areas are in a separate building to the exhibition or office area alarms and superior locks need to be considered. Access to the storage area, no matter where it is located, should be restricted, and care should be taken about who has access to keys. At least one copy of the keys should be kept off site. 

References and further reading:

Museums Australia Inc (NSW), Museum Methods, A Practical Manual for Managing Small Museums, Section 4 Preventive Conservation

Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material, ReCollections

Museums and Galleries NSW, Online Resources; in particular, Storage and display: Suitable and unsuitable materials and Collection storage: shelving

Museums Australia Inc (NSW), Museum Methods, A Practical Manual for Managing Small Museums, Sections 4.3 Recommended environmental conditions for museum objects and 4.6 Choosing the best display and storage materials