Open Forum

I am looking for ideas and advice and your experience in balancing conflicts between the needs of conservation and the safety of all artifacts and the needs to curation in displaying artifacts that might potentially attract mold or insects.

We allow food and drink in the museum, but are worried about the issues of isolating delicate or very rare or valuable artifacts.  

Do you think that food in museums is a special issue? especially because of the rise of interest in food and drink as a cultural indicator.

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Elizabeth Williams
Director
Southern Food and Beverage Museum
New Orleans LA
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There are three Connecting to Collections Care webinars on food in the museum - they should be helpful and they have lots of other resources, too,

Beyond "No Food or Drink in the Gallery": Food Management Strategies for the Real World
Seasonal Affective Disorder: Caring for Collections During Seasonal Special Events
Protecting Collections During Special Eventshttps://www.connectingtocollections.org/eventsrecording/



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M. Susan Barger PhD
Consultant to Small Museums and Archives
Santa Fe, NM
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-28-2019 06:45 PM
From: Elizabeth Williams
Subject: Balancing conservation and curation with food artifacts

I am looking for ideas and advice and your experience in balancing conflicts between the needs of conservation and the safety of all artifacts and the needs to curation in displaying artifacts that might potentially attract mold or insects.

We allow food and drink in the museum, but are worried about the issues of isolating delicate or very rare or valuable artifacts.

Do you think that food in museums is a special issue? especially because of the rise of interest in food and drink as a cultural indicator.

------------------------------
Elizabeth Williams
Director
Southern Food and Beverage Museum
New Orleans LA
------------------------------

Thanks.  What about issues of artifacts that contain food or remnants of food that are part of the story of the object?

------------------------------
Elizabeth Williams
Director
Southern Food and Beverage Museum
New Orleans LA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 12-31-2019 11:07 PM
From: M. Susan Barger
Subject: Balancing conservation and curation with food artifacts

There are three Connecting to Collections Care webinars on food in the museum - they should be helpful and they have lots of other resources, too,

Beyond "No Food or Drink in the Gallery": Food Management Strategies for the Real World
Seasonal Affective Disorder: Caring for Collections During Seasonal Special Events
Protecting Collections During Special Eventshttps://www.connectingtocollections.org/eventsrecording/



------------------------------
M. Susan Barger PhD
Consultant to Small Museums and Archives
Santa Fe, NM

Original Message:
Sent: 12-28-2019 06:45 PM
From: Elizabeth Williams
Subject: Balancing conservation and curation with food artifacts

I am looking for ideas and advice and your experience in balancing conflicts between the needs of conservation and the safety of all artifacts and the needs to curation in displaying artifacts that might potentially attract mold or insects.

We allow food and drink in the museum, but are worried about the issues of isolating delicate or very rare or valuable artifacts.

Do you think that food in museums is a special issue? especially because of the rise of interest in food and drink as a cultural indicator.

------------------------------
Elizabeth Williams
Director
Southern Food and Beverage Museum
New Orleans LA
------------------------------