Collections Care 101: The Basics

Many resources exist to help beginners and more experienced caretakers in understanding and increasing their knowledge of how to best care for their organization’s collections. The resources below provide primers on the basics as well as more specific advice for certain situations such as labeling, handling, packing, and moving collections. 

For specific guidance on the care of certain types of collections, such as textiles, metal objects, natural history collections, and so forth, see the various collections care toolkits available through the Local History Network.

General Guidelines

• Brent A. Powell: Collections Care: An Illustrated Handbook for the Care and Handling of Cultural Objects
• Daniel B. Reibel: Registration Methods for the Small Museum
• Timothy Ambrose and Crispin Paine: Museum Basics
• Cinnamon Catlin-Legutko and Stacy Klingler: The Small Museum Toolkit/Book 6: Collections and Historic Preservation
• Connecting to Collections Care
  • “All Aboard: Engineering Collections Care Training for Small Museums” Webinar (Presenter: Brent Powell)
  • “Caring for Archives: Fundamentals for Everyone” Webinar (Presenter: Fletcher Durant, University of Florida)
  • “Collections Care Basics: Where Do I Begin?” Webinar Series (Presenters: various)
• Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts: Guides & Fact Sheets

Preserving Collections

• American Institute for Conservation
  • Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) Program
  • “Ten Agents of Deterioration”
• Canadian Conservation Institute: “Agents of Deterioration”
• Smithsonian National Postal Museum: “Agents of Deterioration”

Handling Collections

• British Columbia Museums Association: Your Museum Coach: Handling an Artifact (video)
• Connecting to Collections Care: “Object Handling Basics” Webinar (Presenter: Mary Coughlin, George Washington University)
• National Park Service
  • “How to Select Gloves: An Overview for Collections Staff” (Conserve O Gram Series, September 2010, number 1/12)
  • Museum Handbook, Part I – Chapter 6: “Handling, Packing, and Shipping”
• Winterthur Museum: Care in Handling (video series)

Labeling Collections

• Collection Care Alliance: “Artifact Labeling 101”
• Connecting to Collections Care: “Marking and Labeling Collections” Webinar (Presenter: Nora Lockshin, Smithsonian Institute Archives)
• National Park Service: “Use Of Acryloid B-72 Lacquer For Labeling Museum Objects” (Conserve O Gram Series, July 1993, number 1/4)

Packing, Shipping, and Moving Collections

• Connecting to Collections Care: “Objects on the Move! Packing and Transporting Collections” Webinar (Presenter: Elsa Huxley, Heritage Preservation)
• National Park Service
  • “Retrofitting A Moving Van To Transport Number 17/4 Museum Collections” (Conserve O Gram Series, September 1995, number 17/4)
  • Museum Handbook, Part I – Chapter 6: “Handling, Packing, and Shipping”
• Science Museum of Minnesota: Moving the Museum: Guide to Moving Collections
• Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute: “Moving, Packing, and Shipping Furniture”