Now that former conservator Ada Hopkins has retired, I am tasked with trying to fill the role that she defined during her time at the Bata Show Museum. For my first Conservation Blog I thought I would update everyone on the Storage Room Project that she wrote about in April 2022.
The new storage room project has continued to progress over the past year. New conservation friendly shelving was installed in August 2022 and we have been monitoring the environment. This includes tracking the relative humidity (Rh) and the temperature to learn how to best retrofit the room to ensure safe an environment for the Bata’s collection.
The ultimate goal of this new storage room is to provide a more tightly controlled environment so that we can provide “cool storage” which will slow the degradation of our shoes that are made of plastics, rubber and vulnerable materials.
The retrofit of the room is being guided by a report by Maltby and Associates and will ensure that we are providing even better care for this collection. Cool storage (a temperature of 15.5-17C and a relative humidity range of 38-40%), will require the future installation more environmental control equipment. We are currently in the process of looking into how to meet these requirements with building engineers and HVAC specialists.
In order learn about the environment in this area, data loggers were purchased to both monitor the space and also to compare the differences in Rh between different locations of the room. Data loggers are an important tool for conservators monitor environmental conditions. The loggers take readings at regular intervals and measure temperature and Rh. This information is uploaded to the cloud and where we can monitor it remotely from our computer or handheld devices. With this information we will be able to make better decisions and determine what other changes we may need to make to the physical structure of the room. For example, do we need to create a vestibule to help keep the environment constant as we enter and exit the room?
The installation of the shelving, which was supported by a grant, was an exciting step forward. We have begun the process of lining the shelves with conservation grade foam sheeting and using the room as a “swing space” for other collection materials which is also allowing us to upgrade shelves in another storage room location.
Padded work tables and new electrical outlets have been installed in one area of the room to create a large workspace for curatorial and collections staff. We are currently using this area for planning the upcoming exhibition on 1980s footwear!
I look forward to the next updates as we progress ever closer to the completion of this project!
Laura Cunningham
BSM Conservator
