Objects Secured Directly to a Box
Purpose
In 2017, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opened a new purpose built off-site facility called the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections, Conservation and Research Center. Our team was tasked with rehousing the 20,000 object collection to move from the original off-site storage facility to the new facility in four months. Four custom housing methods were developed to quickly stabilize the objects during the move as well as be utilized for continued storage, thus minimizing handling of the objects when needed for viewing.
Author(s)
Rebecca Beyth, Preventive Conservator
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
100 Raoul Wallenberg Place
Washington, DC 20024
202-488-0400 x 552362
[email protected]
Photo Credits: Rebecca Beyth, Courtesy of USHMM
Description
One method is to secure an object to the bottom of the box. Twill tape ties are attached to the bottom of the box and threaded through slits in Volara to pad the bottom of the box to secure the object to the box itself. This method is useful when an object is particularly heavy, or has complex parts that needed stabilization. A standard box is typically used for this method, but occasionally a drop-front box is useful.
Materials, Tools & Supplies
- B-Flute Corrugated Board or Coroplast
- Box Cutter
- Cutting Mat
- Volara
- Hot-Melt Glue
- Twill Tape
- Ethafoam
- Polyester Batting
- Teflon Artifact Wrap
Construction
- Create custom box or use standard pre-made box to fit object with room for clearance.
- Measure inside of box.
- Cut Volara and place in box. Place object on Volara/board and mark where ties should be and remove object. Cut slits in Volara where marked and mark box underneath (Fig. 1). Remove Volara and hot-glue twill tape ties on the mark and thread through the slits in Volara (Fig. 2). Glue Volara to box bottom. Allow glue to cool.
Figure 1. Cutting Slits in Volara
Figure 2. Threading Twill Tapes Through Slits in Volara
- Place object in box with Volara padding. Place Volara strips on the areas to be secured with ties to protect object and tie ties (Fig. 3).
Figure 3. Tied Twill Ties with Volara Underneath
- If not using Volara, glue twill tape ties to board in appropriate places and put Volara on the areas to be secured with ties and tie ties.
- An additional security step (especially when not using Volara padding and/or to reduce the number of ties) is to use small ethafoam bumpers padded with Volara or Teflon wrap to smooth the surface on either end of an object to keep if from moving side to side. These can be hot glued to the tray (Fig. 4).
Figure 4: Finished Rehousing
