Alaskan Ten Agents of Deterioration

Preventing damage to collections from intentional acts requires solid policies and procedures. Institutions with heritage collections must constantly balance the benefits of access with the responsibility of preservation. Theft and vandalism are sometimes premeditated and malicious, but impulsive and opportunistic actions are perhaps more common.

Because a substantial percentage of museum theft is an “inside job,” policies and procedures should include safeguards to protect both the safety of the collection and the integrity of staff. Large institutions have security units, but most Alaskan institutions with small budgets and limited staffing need to have careful protocols. Limiting the spaces that contain collections and the number of people with keys to those spaces is one strategy. Cross-keying can insure people with access to the facility do not also have access to collections spaces and vice-versa. Shipping forms with multiple signatures can add a layer of protection to objects moving in and out of the building and help track the location of those items. Regular inventories are part of good museum practice. In some institutions, non-collections staff perform spot checks on the collection between full inventories to monitor the accuracy of location codes and collections management procedures. Researchers and visitors should never be left unattended in collections storage. A good policy to monitor storage spaces is to keep a clipboard at the door, listing name, date, time, and purpose of anyone who is not staff. Off-site storage spaces are often unstaffed and infrequently visited. Museum staff should be discreet about the location of such spaces, and check them frequently. Locks and security measures should be robust (figure 1).

Sculptures, murals, and artifacts kept outdoors are at special risk for vandalism (figure 2). Well cared-for items in high-traffic areas with good lighting tend to be less vulnerable (figure 3). Reversible, sacrificial coatings such as waxes can protect outdoor collections from various pollutants as well as form a barrier between graffiti and the object surface. There are specialty products made for this purpose. The sooner graffiti is noticed and addressed, the easier it may be to remove. Dirty, broken, or defaced artworks also tend to attract further destructive acts.

Museum exhibitions should be designed from the beginning with theft and vandalism risks in mind. Ideal exhibit design prevents opportunistic touching and avoids the display of easily portable items outside of exhibit cases. Exhibit cases can be secured with locks or security screws. If objects are too large to protect with cases or vitrines, keeping a safe distance between the item and the public through raised platforms or stanchions with ropes can be helpful. Patrons do not always focus on careful navigation in museum spaces. Socializing, taking selfies, gawking at spectacular collections, tourist fatigue, and other distractions can cause visitors to lose their balance. Plinths with vitrines or freestanding cases can be accidentally tipped over. Strategies include weighting the inside of the plinth or fixing the case to the wall (figure 4).

Some of the most common vandalism involves the non-malicious but unpredictable actions of children. Museums with hands-on spaces for kids programming occasionally see those activities spill into the galleries (figure 5). Occasionally gum has been found on museum objects (figure 6). Children are not always well-monitored by their caregivers. In one example, a raised deck in an exhibit also had a railing with small display cases. The vintage suitcase on the deck seemed well out of the way of the public. Yet a child crawled under the railing to play with the suitcase, resulting in damage to the delicate paper surface and brittle plastic corners (figure 7).

School groups and families are among the most cherished visitors to any museum, so minimizing opportunities for unfortunate incidents through careful exhibit design is ideal. Video monitoring, motion-activated voice recorders, and the positioning of front desk staff relative to displays are other tools in the small museum security arsenal.

Other emergencies can exacerbate the risk for theft of museum collections. A museum fire in the 1970s resulted in theft of Alaska's Apollo 11 lunar samples.