Display cases

As our Clothing and Textile Collection is housed in a multi-purpose
building, we want to further increase the collection's resistance to
flood.  While every precaution currently possible has been taken, a
plumbing mishap or a faucet accidentally left on in another part of
our building has enormous potential to seriously damage artifacts.
We need to develop secure, water-proof spaces for storage and
display purposes.

Our Clothing and Textile collection is stored in an electronic
mobile storage system that offers some protection when it is closed,
but is not waterproof. We want to turn the spaces (21 inches wide x
26 inches deep x 88 inches high)  at the end of some of the mobile
units into waterproof display areas. These areas must be easily
accessible to staff, but must also be resistant to theft.  We have
considered building free-standing display cases that would fit
inside these spaces but too much additional weight in our compactor
unit could affect its operation.

Has anyone else modified a storage unit to allow in situ displays?
What materials and construction methods lend themselves to building
a case that is both secure, waterproof, and compatible with storing
textile artifacts? Are there any publications on the design of
waterproof display cases?

Alyssa Becker
Intern, University of Alberta Clothing and Textile Collection


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:3
                  Distributed: Thursday, July 6, 2000
                        Message Id: cdl-14-3-012
                                  ***