Dunbar, Hope

INSTITUTION:

The Pritzker Military Museum & Library

PROJECT DIRECTOR:

Kat Lantham, Director of Collections Management

GRANT PROGRAM:

Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions

I.

PROJECT ABSTRACT

Prior to 2013, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library was named The Pritzker Military
Library. The added museum component marked a shift in the institutions mission and reflected
the growth of the museum collection in the past two years. The museum collection has grown by
80% in the past three years through efforts of the Director of Collections Management. The grant
funds are particularly necessary as this collection has grown significantly in a small scope of
time. Collection items include artifacts, prints, posters, paper collections, scrapbooks, negatives,
photographs, and maps. The grant will allow for basic, but lacking, preservation measures to be
installed, as well as a professional consultant to determine areas that can be easily improved or
are particularly harmful to the collection as it stands today. Not only will grant funds benefit the
current collection, but also due to the projected growth of the current collection, it will also
provide the infrastructure to preserve and maintain all acquired items in future years.
Grant funds will be used to purchase :
A datalogger to track the conditions in the off-site storage facility. As of now, there is a
digital display and emergency notification system in place, but very little in regards to
hard data on conditions overtime. A datalogger would allow preservation staff to
determine how often the conditions dip below an acceptable level and further assess how
well the off-site storage location, and the company they rent from, is handling the
demands of the institution.
UV Light Filter Sleeves for florescent bulbs being used in the exhibit area and throughout
areas where items are being displayed. This will minimize light damage to the materials
and general fading by preventing harmful UV light and the possibility of broken glass.
Small thermohydrometers for exhibition cases to track temperature and humidity.
Currently, there are no such measures in the exhibition space. These small monitors are
meant to complement the off-site dataloggers and attempt to match internal preservation
conditions to ensure the materials and artifacts are not stressed due to relocation or
exhibition.
An official preservation assessment will be conducted in the off-site storage facility.
While previous intern assessments may shed some light on current conditions, they do
not have the expertise to diagnose the needs of a growing collection accurately with a
multitude of materials and collection items.
A preservation assessment of the current exhibit space to determine if a HVAC system is
necessary or what steps can be taken to care for the materials when they are not stored in
the off-site facility. To date, that exhibit space has not had an assessment.

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II.

NARRATIVE

A. What activity (or activities) would the grant support?

The grant will support the purchase of environment tracking preservation supplies. This will take
the form of dataloggers to track the internal conditions of the off-site storage facility, small data
monitors (digital hydrometers) for artifact cases in the main site exhibit cases, and UV light filter
sleeves for florescent bulbs for the artifact exhibit space and office locations where artifacts are
displayed.
Funds from the grant will provide a preservation assessment for both the off-site storage facility
and the main site exhibit space. Both sites have not been assessed in regards to preservation
concerns and the rapid growth of the museum collection strongly lend to the necessity of an
assessment.

B. What are the content and size of the humanities collections that are the focus of the
project?
The Pritzkers museum collection focuses on the documentation of American citizens as soldiers
in the military, their experiences, and the spread of democracy that has resulted from their
efforts. The museum collection was officially developed and separated from the library and
manuscript components as an individual collection in 2012. It includes artifacts, prints, posters,
paper collections, scrapbooks, negatives, photographs, and maps. Many of the items are received
through donation from active military members or from family collections.
The museum component has grown by 80% in the last three years. The off-site storage facility
alone comprises of 1,700 prints and posters; 5,100 maps; 2,500 photographs; 3,500 negatives;
275 paper collections; and 4,200 artifacts. The items located in the off-site facility encompass the
majority of the collection and include the objects used for display in the exhibition areas.
This growing museum component will be the focus of the grant project and associated
preservation efforts.

C. How are these humanities collections used?

The humanities collections are used primarily for educational purposes by individual patrons,
school groups, and academic scholars conducting research. The Pritzkers collection is rare in
that it is dedicated to maintaining the memories and actions of American soldiers both during
active combat and after returning home from the front. In this way it provides a unique and
essential function of preserving the history of our nations soldiers.
Scholars can request primary source materials to conduct academic and discipline based
research. The Special Collections room is used to view individual artifacts upon advance request
and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday.
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Individual patrons can come to see the constantly shifting exhibitions of materials designed by
staff. Three exhibits total are displayed at a time. Two are permanent, while one is continually
rotating and changing topic. The two permanent displays are The Citizen Soldier and Metal
of Honor, and the rotating exhibit is currently SEAL the Unspoken Sacrifice.
School groups can schedule field trips and tours for up to 60 students at a time that allow the
students to interact with their nations history. Many interactive activities have been developed to
educate school groups, including holding particular artifacts such as unsharpened bayonets, and
passing around pictures taken on the front and discussing their content in groups. Tours can be
adapted to fit various lesson plans or specific interests. Additionally, field trip tours are free of
charge to any Chicago Public School group and available for a minimal fee for primary or
secondary schools outside the Chicago school districts.

D. What is the nature and mission of your institution?

The mission of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library is to acquire and maintain an accessible
collection of materials and to develop appropriate programs focusing on the Citizen Soldier and
the preservation of democracy. The organization is non-partisan in nature and is dedicated to
increasing public understanding of military history and the sacrifices active and former soldiers
make when serving our country.

E. Has your institution ever had a preservation or conservation assessment or

consultation?
The Museum participated in a general collection assessment in spring of 2014 conducted by a
volunteer, but has not had a professional assessment of the growing museum collection and the
condition of its artifacts. This general volunteer assessment spurred an in-depth look into the
preservation concerns detailed in this grant application.

F. What is the importance of this project to the institution?

This project is essential to the preservation of the museum collection. Since its creation, the
museum component has grown rapidly and quickly. Many simple preservation measures would
have an exponentially beneficial impact upon the collection and its preservation into the future.
Along with the purchase of preservation tools, the active professional assessments of
preservation concerns would guarantee at this early stage that the current collection materials are
preserved in their current location, and that all future acquisitions are given that same level of
care. This collection is projected to grow at a similar pace in the coming years. This grant will
fund the infrastructure that allows future artifacts to be preserved and maintained successfully.

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G. What are the names and qualifications of the consultant(s) and staff involved in the
project?
The project will be headed by Kat Lantham, the current Director of Collections Management.
Ms. Lantham will serve as the organizational focal point and the supervisory figure in
distributing funds and monitoring project progress. She has a B.A. in History and Anthropology,
as well as a M.A. degree in Public History. She has been with the Pritzker Military Museum &
Library in various capacities, and was named to Director of Collections Management in 2012.
Ms. Lantham supervises a series of M.A. interns that will be heavily involved in the project. This
will include the regular monitoring and recording of preservation data and implementation
progress.

H. What is the plan of work for the project?

The work plan is described in the context of the 18 month required timeline and will be as
follows:
Phase I: Implementation and installation of environmental tracking preservation supplies
Grant funds will be used to purchase dataloggers and small data monitors for internal
conditions of preservation cases. These two installation measures were prioritized at the
initiation of the project to provide as much raw data as possible to assessment
professionals hired in the later phases of implementation. The timeframe below
encompasses ordering the necessary technology and properly installing such technology
into the off-site storage location and the main building exhibition areas.
Months 1-3
Phase II: Installation of UV light filter sleeves for florescent bulbs in exhibition areas
and in locations where artifacts are displayed
This second phase includes staff assessment of necessary number of UV light filter
sleeves for florescent bulbs; the location of artifacts in main building non-exhibition
areas, the ordering of the product, and the subsequent installation to be performed by a
M.A. Preservation intern.
Months 4-6
Phase III: Preservation assessment for both the off-site storage facility and the main site
exhibit space
The third phase includes the hiring of a consultant to conduct a preservation assessment
for both the off-site storage facility and the main site exhibit space. The off-site storage
facility has not been assessed by a professional consultant. The collection and variety
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contained therein has grown rapidly in the past three years. Additionally, the exhibit
space has never been assessed and houses many of the collections artifacts without
consideration to temperature or humidity. The consultant will conduct a formal review
over a number of weeks and provide a written analysis for recommendations going into
the future. This analysis will cover a variety of topics including, but not limited to,
current temperature and relative humidity level concerns, housing of the items, storage
and handling practices, and the impact current conditions will have upon the collection
when compounded over time.
Months 7-11

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III.

BUDGET

Applicant Organization: The Pritzker Military Museum & Library

Consultant Fees & Preservation Equipment

Item
Datalogger

Number
of Items
1

Digital
Thermohydro
meter

UV Light
Filter Sleeves

Consultant

Brand and
Type
PEM2
Preservation
Environment
Monitor
Gaylords
Digital
Thermohydro
meter

Order Website

Cost per
Item
https://www.imageperm $429.99 +
anenceinstitute.org/envir shipping
onmental/pem2datalogger
http://www.gaylord.com $29.99 +
/Archival/Environmenta shipping
l-Control/Temperature%26-HumidityMonitors/DigitalThermohygrometer/p/15
46
UV Light
http://www.gaylord.com 479.99 +
Filter Sleeves
/Archival/Environmenta shipping
for Fluorescent l-Control/LightBulbs (Roll)Filters/48%22-Pre-CutT8 Bulb
UV-Light-FilterSleeves-for-FluorescentBulbs-%284Pack%29/p/HYB00010
Nelb Archival http://www.nelbarchival See Below
Consulting Inc. .com/index.htm

Total
$429.99

$239.92

$479.99

$2,600.00
$3,809.90

Total
Amount
Requested
Consultant Firm: Nelb Archival Consulting, Inc.
Location: Midland, Michigan
Daily Charge: $550.00 x4
Days on Project Required: 4
Number of Persons: 1
Travel Days: 2

Transportation Costs: $400.00

Total Consultant Cost: $2,600.00