In-Class Exercise: The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum

Group: Crystal Arnspiger, Beth Antoine, Stephanie Gowler, John William Nordhaus

Given this museum’s policy of having no on-site permanent collection and, thus, exhibiting on-loan items, our hypothetical preservation policy is situated upon ensuring that objects leave in a condition that most closely resembles the condition in which they arrived. Doing so would only serve to strengthen the reputation of the museum. A failure to do so would potentially have the opposite effect should it become a commonplace occurrence. Working from this understanding, we placed our focus on a policy that had as its core the following actions: tracking in-transit conditions to and from loaning institutions, monitoring lighting and environmental levels on a macro and micro level to meet the requirements of loaning institutions, and maintaining the building to avoid potential immediate or extended ‘catastrophes.’