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Inside the Collections Care Project: Make way for a new wall

Apr 24, 2015

As the Historic New England Collections Care Project continues, staff recently moved cabinets and shelving units to make way for a temporary wall. The wall will secure collection objects during the construction phase of the multi-year project, which is designed to improve storage and environmental controls in our Haverhill, Massachusetts, collections and conservation facility.

During construction, Historic New England will install new windows and HVAC systems. Compact storage cabinets will be placed on rails in the floor to allow for more cabinet space.

Staff moved cabinets that held hanging textiles, hats, and shoes. The shelving units held boxed household textiles of all sorts.

In an earlier phase of the project, the cabinets and shelves were cleared of 450 pairs of shoes, 405 hats (both men’s and women’s), fifty hat boxes, and more than 200 hair combs and other accessories.

Staff photographed, cleaned, and updated catalogue records for these objects.

Keep an eye on our Collections Access portal for new images of these objects. As you can see from these before-and-after photos, contractors now have plenty of space to work in the area without affecting historic objects.

You can help support the preservation of of Historic New England’s object collection, representing four centuries of life in the region. Please consider a donation to the Collections and Conservation Fund.