When people visit a museum they probably don't think about what goes into creating exhibits or the amount of work that's being done behind the scenes to research the items that are on display.
When Amber Hills, the Patton Museum's collection manager, receives a call about a possible donation to the museum she has to be careful about saying "yes" because the item might not be historical or fit into the message of the museum.
Hills said the museum receives items through several different methods and the most common is through donations which are gifted to the museum by a private individual or organization.
"If it comes from the Army, transfers are done from property book to property book," explained Hills. "We evaluate things as they come in. Every single piece that comes in, even on a uniform, every ribbon and insignia has to be accounted for so, there is a dedicated process to each individual piece. A uniform may not be just a coat and trousers, it could be 30 different artifacts.
"You have to keep that in mind when things come through (or someone calls us) … we evaluate (the donation) based on the information they give us and we also talk to them and have them send some photographs. If it sounds like something we may be interested in that's when we would maybe have them come in. If it's something that's really special we would make a trip to them."
Hills added that instead of a bequest, sometimes people will bring things in and she will review the object or look it up in the reference library if she isn't familiar with the item. It's then a judgement call if the museum will accept the donation because the museum may not have the space or capacity to take care of those objects.
For example, if someone comes in with an Ike jacket, a popular World War II item, but it has no patches and they picked it up at a yard sale but don't want it destroyed, it's hard to tell people that is not something the museum needs.
"But, if it was something we knew the whole story --about somebody who we had photographs that went along with it --you had this wonderful and inspiring back story, which we call provenance, with the piece (then) that's when we would consider it in a different light," Hills said. "It really depends and it's case by case. It might come in (and) it's a really special type of something."
She pointed out that if someone brings in items that aren't needed at the Patton Museum she will direct them to the Kentucky Military History Museum in Frankfort or the Hardin County Museum. She added that looking at the history of the piece is important because the U.S. Center of Military History is strict about what material can be accepted because people have accepted things that shouldn't.
But once a museum signs the gift agreement, it has taken legal ownership and each donated item is treated the same as the staff treats Patton's uniforms.
"You have to prioritize," she said. "You have to account for it and there are inventories. There is a lot of responsibility once you accept that (item). That's why (officials) are very picky."
Hills said one of the things she takes into consideration when accepting an item is, "how is the object going to benefit everyone?"
"You have to be judicious when things come in (because) we can't just get rid of things," explained Hills. "There is a long process to remove legal custody from the Army so we can then dispose of it. Disposing of it can mean moving (the item) to another museum (or) it could mean using it as educational property where we teach with those things. We are under strict ethical codes and a lot of people don't realize that."
Nate Jones, the museum's curator, said he uses a litmus test to see if the items fit the museum's mission and if there are holes in the collection which the piece can be used to fill. If the item fits into the mission Jones will work out a collections plan. This kind of plan identifies what the museum has, what it doesn't have and it tries to locate missing items related to the object to get a complete picture of the history of the item.
If Jones decides to move forward with a donated piece he has to write a justification to the collections committee at the Center of Military History explaining what the item is and why he wants the item added to the collection.
The CMH is located in Virginia and manages a system of 59 Army museums and 176 other holdings. The center encompasses more than 500,000 artifacts and 15,000 works of military art.
"I actually bring very little into the collections but I deaccession quite a bit because there are a lot of things in the collection that shouldn't be in the museum," explained Jones. "Sadly I have to be the person (who) says, 'no.' I usually try to steer them toward (some place where) I know (they) are looking for those types of things."
After objects are donated to the museum and receive approval, Hills takes over for the identifying process and if needed cleaning.
Jones will then develop an exhibit. He said the curator will conceptualized an exhibit and pitch the idea. He then writes a descriptive outline about what he wants to accomplish with the exhibit. Once that's done a narrative script is written which includes the information that is going to be discussed, artifacts that will be displayed and a description of what the scenes look like.
"After approval Amber has to go through the registration process and catalog process," he said. "Rarely does anything not ever need something. Almost always it's going to need to be frozen to get rid of mold or need to be vacuumed with the micro vac. Then we have to find a mount for it."
Although work is done to items once they are collected or donated to the museum, Jones said the staff doesn't usually address artifacts until they know it's about to be exhibited.
"Almost all of the research is exhibit driven," Jones said. "Very rarely do curators get to pick something out of the collection they want to learn more about and study it and write about it."
Hills said if there is an item that's been stored and is valued by the museum, the item will go through a treatment process for preservation and cleaning. But priority is given to anything that's going on exhibit.
"If there is something in storage (such as) Patton's leather holster and the brass has verdigris, which is a terrible growth that is a reaction between the materials which can damage the object, there will be care to those things to ensure nothing happens to them," said Hill. "We don't really have too much of that issue right now."
When someone brings an item to the museum people might think it should be clean, but Hills said that's not always a requirement. When Soldiers dropped off Army combat uniforms that were worn by Soldiers from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, Hills didn't want them to be cleaned.
"I want the blood, sweat, tears and the stains because that's what makes that uniform special--because they wore it in combat," she said. "It's like Patton's football pants. Those are dirty not because of dirt over time... they are dirty because Patton played football. You wouldn't want to clean those things.
"There are other types of dirty. Those are things not natural to the state of the object. ... that's when you would do a form of conservation treatment."
Hills said there are a number of different ways to clean items such as using tweezers or screen vacuuming method, if the material is stable. If it isn't, Hills recommends having the cleaning done by a conservator who will clean it in their studio because it could potentially be damaged if not done properly. Some textiles will disintegrate and others will turn into dust. She also said when cleaning textiles adhesives or sticky tape are never used. An inert putty can be used because it won't damage the textile.
Displaying and setting up exhibits in a museum is more than putting an item on the showroom floor. The collections manager cleans, identifies and ensures things are well-preserved while the curator has to write a script and wait for approval. The staff also has to ensure exhibits fit the museum's mission.
"I want to put something out that's going to make a meaningful connection," Hills said. "I want you to relate to it from that dialogue with that piece. It's a pure and clean exhibit that allows you to concentrate on what makes that piece special and why it matters to you."
Jones said his goal is to leave people with more questions, "than I answered … then I've done my job. Museums are the houses of the muses. Hopefully we inspire them to learn more."
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