This week, the back rooms of the Burke Museum are filled with the sounds of drilling, hammering, and other cacophonous noises associated with a construction project. But it's with great excitement that we allow these sounds to flood our offices because it means the museum is finally moving forward with the
installation of brand new storage compactors that will help keep ethnology collections at the Burke safe from potential earthquake damage and long-term degradation due to light and dust. The new storage compactors, which are being installed over the next two weeks, will also make much more efficient use of our very limited space than the open shelving units that were previously being used.
The ethnology collections staff has been hard at work preparing for this and has been documentating the process:
Photos: (top) The space where Native American art curator Robin Wright stands is typically filled with objects, but room has been cleared for the new compactors. (middle) Working on the installation of the compactors. (bottom) The new storage compacters are installed on tracks so they can roll open and closed as need.
Once the work is done in ethnology, the same process will happen in the geology collection space. Read more about the entire project here.
Posted by: Julia Swan, Communications
