City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2010 06 08

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Memorandum To: Louisville Historical Commission Cc: Beth Barrett, Director of Library & Museum Services From: Bridget Bacon, Museum Coordinator Date: May 24, 2010 Re: Louisville Historical Museum Storage and Space Needs Collections care is one of the most important undertakings for a museum. Donors entrust museums with their artifacts and archival materials. The City of Louisville is very fortunate that generous donors have been willing to give items and help the Historical Museum fulfill its mission “to promote, collect, preserve, and interpret the diverse history of Louisville.” The Museum has been accepting donations for twenty-five years, leading to a great deal of depth in its collection. I envision a time when the Museum will be able to better utilize these donations to create rotating exhibits that highlight Louisville’s history and draw increased numbers of residents and tourists to downtown Louisville. While staffing limitations have not made it possible to conduct a full inventory, it is believed that there are approximately 13,500 items now in the collection, all owned by the City of Louisville. A large proportion of these valuable artifacts and archival materials are being stored temporarily in boxes (or, in the case of the movie curtain from the Rex Theatre, on the floor) in the Jordinelli House and Jacoe Store pending the creation of adequate collections storage space where the items can be stored in a methodical manner under recommended conditions. Louisville is very fortunate to have the historical buildings that make up the Historical Museum, but the age, condition, and modest sizes of these buildings unquestionably present ongoing problems for proper collections care. In 2004, museum experts visited the Historical Museum as part of the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) pursuant to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library and Museum Services. The CAP Report noted the severe lack of storage space for the collections at the Museum, strongly recommended that artifacts be removed from the Jacoe Store basement due to poor conditions, and urged that immediate attention be given to remedy the current state of collections care: The museum is encouraged to move ahead when staffing and funding allow to create a viable collections center in a new, purpose built facility on site. Only this will allow the right kind of storage to occur where issues of access, space, 1