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Museum operations you know nothing about

Have you ever wondered what kind of museum operations are necessary to pull off an exhibition? Sure, you wander around the serene (sometimes not so serene) galleries, taking in all the incredible artworks, historical objects and fancy displays, but do we ever stop to think about what it takes to get everything to that spot? I sure didn't! That is, until I started working in museums, and let me tell you, the amount of work done by the museum staff who never get any public credit is absolutely astounding!

Let's talk about some of the less famous staff in the museum world and exactly what kinds of things they are doing backstage to make sure we get the best possible experience – and the objects get the best possible care – when we come and visit.

Conservators

Call a museum conservator a conservationist, and you'll watch some eyes twitching very soon. Conservators always lose out to the more famous environmental conservationists, so make sure you call them the right thing first, and you'll get a grateful friend. Generally speaking, conservators are trained professionals (likely with an MA or MSc degree in conservation) who know how to handle, consolidate, and restore cultural objects. Since conservation requires an in-depth understanding of the chemistry and physics of the material aspects of an object, it is normal for conservators to specialise in particular types of materials, so you will find conservators of polycrhome wood sculpture who would not dare touch a photogarph, or paintings conservators who would never feel prepared to deal with a feathered object, etc. You will also find preventive conservators, who don't treat any objects at all and are more focused on the care of entire collections through the careful management of light, relative humidity, pests, and other agents of deterioration.

In a museum setting, conservators will generally be tasked with making sure that objects are stable enough for display. They will be required to carry out condition surveys of objects, photograph them before and after treatments, run a number of tests to make sure they pick the best treatment for each object (conservation should not be about following recipes), and sometimes may be allowed to put their foot down about whether an objects gets displayed or not based on their fragility, in which case, they might make a replica instead.

Another thing you might not know is that the exhibition you are looking at today has probably been planned with a year or more in advance. Guess what? Treating that particular object may have taken the best part of a year, so no, just because it's on display doesn't mean the museum found it in storage and mounted it up in 3 days.

Importantly, conservators in museums are not just there to "fix things". Their in-depth knowledge of material constructions and their continuous documentation help curators and researchers learn more about object construction, history, use, and even the history of past treatments (talk about meta). Conservators may also deal with many ethical dilemmas - just because you can stick something together, doesn't mean you should - what would that mean for that objects future? What if the object is of dubious provenance? Restoration normally increases market value (when done properly). What if you stick something so well that when the next tourist with a backpack hits it, it breaks in a new place because the old fracture you fixed survived the fall so well. Now you have an extra break you didn't have before. See? It's not that easy!

Registrars and collections managers

Have you ever made yourself a home inventory for insurance purposes? This means photographs, receipts, user manuals if all the others are gone. Would you want to make one? I actually started because it seemed like the kind of thing my future self might one day bless me for, and I can tell you that once you start actually trying to document your stuff, you realise a few key things which are all relatable in a museum setting:

You have way more things than you thought.
You can't for the life of you remember where this thing came from or who gave it to you.
You know you have this one thing because you just saw it the other day, but now you really don't know where it went...
You have a bunch of things people gave you that you never wanted but couldn't say no to, and they are taking up so much space, but you can't throw them out because it would upset others.
You really don't have any space left to put all this stuff, but you do keep buying new things you do need, so now you want a bigger house, but really, you're not going to get one anytime soon.
If you really wanted to get all this in order, you would need way more money and some nicer software to do it.
If anyone ever wanted to borrow some of this stuff, some of which is really important to you, you better document it properly so you can get it back later.
If you don't clean up this inventory database properly, if you ever have a fire, you will have some serious issues trying to show and prove to your insurance what you need to be compensated for.

Now extrapolate the above issues to an institution that may also be up to ~300 years old and has had some 5 generations of people managing it (sometimes not very well), has several hundred thousand or even over a million objects (or several million), potentially several buildings, several dozen galleries with separate storage buildings, record keeping in technological formats that span the same ~300 years, should I continue?

Registrars and collections managers are the wonderful people whose job it is to keep track of where everything is, where it's going, where it needs to go, if it's going out on loan, if it needs conservation, how much each piece costs, who donated it, where did it come from, if it's falling apart, if it has photographs at all, clean up the database, etc.

You'd think nowadays it would all be easy because it's just a matter of scanning a barcode and putting it on the computer, but it's really not. Some museums have been collecting stuff for hundreds of years, so a lot of the documentation is just not digital. Even if your museum is from the 80s, let's see you try to get a document out of a 5 1/4-inch floppy disk. Sometimes it's all still on card catalogues or, if you're lucky, maybe an Excel sheet on a CD (let's see you try to get that out too in 2024). Or maybe you just have a bunch of cards but they got wet last time your ceiling leaked, and this other time, one of your colleagues left their snack biscuits in a drawer and a small family of mice set up house in your office and ate some of the cards too. Oops.

But even if you have access to the files and information, how do you make sure that everything physical matches the database? What if you have 5,000 ancient Roman coins that all look the same to you? What if the person doing the documentation before you made a mistake (or several) and you accidentally have the wrong number of chairs from a dining set? What if there was a virus that wiped out the location of all your objects? What if you haven't taken object photographs in 60 years because you don't have the budget to hire a photographer and no time to do it yourself, and all your digitised photos are black and grainy? On top of everything, these days you also have to worry about malicious attempts to hack into your databases and ransom all the information you do actually have.

So guess what? While some museum objects get stolen, most missing museum objects are legitimately lost. It wouldn't be normal if they didn't. Many of our collecting institutions today did not start as official institutions. They did not have strict rules or systems for documentation at the beginning. I can assure you if you opened a museum today and instituted best practices for documentation, all of the above would still happen and get worse over time. It's just enthropy. There may be objects in old museum records that literally no one who works there now has ever seen. So the next time you read some sensational piece of news about how this museum didn't know they had this object that is awful, or how this collections manager couldn't pull up this one object's record in 2 hours after you requested it, let's take a step back and think about the challenges again.

Doing collections management means being able to balance historical and legacy information with the most current data in a way that makes sense to everyone using the database, whether it's curators, researchers, or conservators. It means being extremely detail oriented and advocating for the safety of the objects while at the same time facilitating access and avoiding becoming an authoritative gatekeeper.

Art Handlers, Mountmakers, and Preparators

Ok, so now you've got an object that's been kept in the most stable condition by the conservators. It is okay for display. The registrars know exactly where it is, how much it costs, what credit line it was purchased with, when, plus the actual details of the object manufacture itself. The curator has made this amazing exhibition with a bunch of objects that make sense together, and they will tell you, the visitor, a wonderful story. Time to put it in an exhibit right? Well, yes, but who is going to put it in there? Enter the art handlers, mountmakers and preparators. Say you want to be this when you grow up. Here are some comedy-style pointers:

No, you can't just use whatever material you want to hold an object up because if they emit organic volatile gasses inside the display cases, that could damage the object. This also applies to painting the gallery spaces or any part of the display cases and then not waiting at least a couple weeks for all that smell to air out because that might also damage the objects.
No, you can't (shouldn't) just set the object down and forget about it because if a tourist with a selfie is being particularly distracted, you might end up with no object left at all after the exhibit. Or in the case of that Koontz balloon dog, with a bunch of broken pieces that ironically end up being more expensive than the original piece.
No, you can't make a mount however you want because it can't interfere with the viewing of the object. Your mount needs to be solid, safe, beaufitul, and also invisible because the visitor wants to see the object, not your mount.
Ah yes, and the conservator has warned you that you can't touch the object here, here OR here, and especially not HERE because those are structurally weak points that will not take a lot of pressure. So make your mount accordingly.
Oh yeah, and if you are hanging objects on top of each other on a wall, you'd better think about those shadows and maybe talk to the lighting engineer too because no one will want to see the shadows of your mounting devices obscuring the objects below.
Easy, right? Alright, get on with it. You have 2 weeks to make 33 mounts because we already booked the transport and it's coming for everything on this date which we can't change, and once the objects arrive at the gallery, security wants us to mount everything so that we can lock the display cases. Nothing can stay out overnight.

I hope this has given you a brief summary of some of the challenges art handlers, preparators, and mountmakers are facing! It's a high-responsibility job, which requires excellent abstract thinking and creativity as well as a solid handling of high power tools and a sense of aestehtics. Plus of course the ability to handle fragile objects delicately.

Mountmakers and exhibition preparators are the people who make the mounts that hold objects, and who are in charge of moving and placing objects in the right places. Mounts are usually made of brass or acrylic, and, whenever possible, they are individually and specifically designed to fit each object perfectly so that it's held securely without being damaged. Can you imagine having to build a little pedestal for a wobbly 18th century porcelain cup? Well, these master craft professionals are the ones making sure that cup doesn't roll away to its doom.

Oh, and did I mention the part where some of the most famous – and expensive – paintings in the world are also the biggest? Think Picasso's Guernica or The Thinker. Who do you think is responsible for moving that thing around? I'll give you a hint, it's not the director of the museum. It's the art handlers! I don't know about you, but I definitely don't think you could pay me enough money to be responsible for something that precious. I'd faint - and potentially throw my back first while I'm at it.

If you wish to learn more about the work of mountmakers, make sure you follow the International Mountmakers Forum Instagram account for some amazing memes that will show you their work!

Insurance, couriers, and high security transports. Oh my!

Since we're talking about several of the jobs that involve actually moving the objects around, let's talk about insurance and transport. Most of us have a hard enough time making sure we get the contents insurance sorted when we move house, can you imagine what it must be like to insure a Van Gogh or a Ming dynasty vase while it's out and about? I don't even want to think about how many more zeros there are in those insurance policies than in my own.

In many museums, registrars and collections managers will be the people doing the paperwork related to insurance and transport during exhibition moves. When you see a traveling exhibit coming to your town, be sure that it's a BIG deal carting these things around. It is expensive, and it also uses a lot of carbon, by the way. Traditionally, a courier is sent along with the objects. In other words, there may be a representative of the loaning institution traveling with the objects the whole way, from the truck, to customs at the airport, to watching the pallets being loaded onto the plane in a "correct" way, then all the way to the borrowing institution, where either a courier representing them will either take over or join them. All of this is meant to insure the objects are not damaged or lost during packaging, transit, decanting, mounting, and then back again. Lately, and because sending this person can be so expensive (it is not uncommon to request that they be sent in first class seats so they can get out of the plane faster and also travel comfortably for a high-stress job), some institutions have begun to experiment with virtual couriering, where checking on the trip is done virtually, but this is not yet an extensive practice.

If you want to learn more about insurance for heritage collections, keep an eye out for an upcoming Ask Me Anything on the Conserv Community at the end of August, 2024.

Let's bring everyone together now

Imagine you decided on these 30 objects that are in 20 different places in your storage, which, by the way is in a building an hour away from the gallery space. Now what? Here is where museum operations really come together. Think about the last time you moved places. What did you have to think about, and what do you wish you had thought about? Let's see:

How many objects are going?
Which ones? Do they need to be packed separately, why, and how? Do I need to know what's in each box?
Where do they need to go when they arrive at the other place?
What size are my things? Will they fit through the doors? How many of you have had to lift a sofa in through a window because the hallways or the lift were too narrow for you to bring it in the normal way with rest of your furniture?
Does it need a mount of some sort when you arrive at the new place?

These are just some questions. Now add the following common (and some less usual but realistic) concerns when you take into account these are museum collections going on public display:

This object costs half a million dollars - so there may be people trying to steal this one. Keep an eye out.
That painting might crack and fall apart with the vibrations in the truck during transport, so you better pack it well and monitor.
This other sculpture weighs half a ton and needs to go on a plinth on the second floor behind 3 glass panes set at funny angles. We already installed those because of #reasons. Sorry!
These 300 tiny beads need to be shown floating in a display case, can you mount them individually maybe?
This watercolour is extremely sensitive to light and can only be shown for 100 hours at the light level within the final gallery position, so maybe open it at the end.
I know I said that 417-lb framed landscape was just right there, but I think it should be a couple inches higher. Can you move it, please?
Wait, why doesn't this picture on the object list spreadsheet not match this object we brought over? Was this in the wrong box? Uh... call X and ask them to check the storage. We might need to do a last minute run...
Each of the objects need to be valuated for insurance purposes before they go. Do you have all that paperwork in order?
Each object has a label that must be put in the correct place, so there better be no typos because we only have time and budget to print these vinyls once.
The special lights will be pointing at these objects at very paritcular angles, so we need to hang this in the right place. The lighting engineers are only available on this day at this time, so we are working around their schedule.
Oh yeah, and we sometimes get earthquakes, so you need to secure the objects safely but also not make the mounts look ugly and clunky because the curator would flip.
Did we mention that the final gallery location is by the sea so there is high humidy and lots of salts in the air that may increase object degradation and corrosion? Tell security not to let anyone open that window over there.
Oh right, and the opening will involve a cocktail and flower arrangements. Make sure you screen all the plants beforehand and tell the catering people that the food has to be stored away from the galleries because the last thing we need is a pest infestation afterwards.
And of course, we are already 3 weeks behind on the schedule, and the conservator just came down with COVID again, so they won't be here on the day we mount.
Oh, and I almost forgot, the biggest museum donor we have wants to come watch us mount the exhibition with their 6-yr old Dennis who likes running around, but I'm sure we can tie him down or something. The director already told them it was not an issue, so hopefully it's fine. We really need them to be happy because we are poor as dirt right now, and all the visitors will get in for free, so they're not paying for any of this.
I can give you 3 interns to help, but they are still feeling a little bit awkward and might require a bit of supervision. That's okay, right? We'll make it work as always.

Big challenges all around

Now, I'm used to seeing museum jobs depicted in the media as rather exciting and like a dream job where you get to see all the fanciest and most amazing treasures, but the truth is that museums have some big challenges that make the work difficult sometimes (maybe all the time).

For one, there is the sheer size of the collections. We're talking hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of objects. How on earth do you keep that much stuff sorted? (Spoiler alert: you do your best, but kind of can't, really...)

Then there is the constant battle with the elements. Light, humidity, temperature, pests, careless visitors, ill-meaninged visitors, earthquakes and hurricanes, pollution, accidental fires All these things affect the collections. The conservators are always keeping track of these and it can be a real headache.

Oh, and don't forget the dreaded unwanted donations and toxic philanthropy! Just because someone wants to give you their stuff doesn't mean the museum wants it. Sometimes, the stuff is in terrible condition but the owner won't pay for the conservation treatment. Sometimes, the person "giving" the stuff has some seriously problematic strings attached. Smaller community museums may have some of the worst experiences here, with neighbours dropping off "objects" on the front porch while the staff is out. There is an art (get it?) to saying no diplomatically here. And yes, museums have to have policies to take items that make no sense "out" of the official collection.

I haven't even mentioned everyone else in this article! Cleaning staff are key to keep spaces pest-free. There are educators and docents who are making up programming to go with your exhibit. There are facilities engineers making sure the HVAC is working as it should and lighting engineers ensuring the objects are lit just right. There may be an IT department trying to make sure your database is still there, and your files are safe, and there may or may not be a marketing team trying to make you actually show up to this thing that took everyone a year to plan and execute. This is all for large museums, of course. Sometimes, you just got Mary B. with a clipboard, a broom, and a 1996 Windows computer trying to make it all happen on her own. Don't forget to say thanks to Mary B. if you meet her.

And then there is the biggest challenge of them all: money. Or lack thereof. Most museums, even the big ones, are really struggling to keep the lights on. Conservation is super expensive (they are not buying materials on Amazon to fix things, you know?), and so is just keeping the right environment for the objects (how much does it cost you to keep your AC on in the summer?). There is a reason why you see so many paid-ticket traveling exhibits in museums these days and why the gift shop is getting to be almost as big as the exhibit halls themselves! Staff is almost certainly underpaid, and people like their museums to be free! So where is the money supposed to be coming from to pay for all the challenges above if even museum entry is not an option? I have no clue, because it sure can't be oil companies or suspect millionaires anymore unless you want protesters in your big hall and your social media channels to deal with too. It's a tough world out there today.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a little peek into some of the museum operations that most people never see or know anything about.

And the saddest bit? It's usually thankless work. When was the last time you saw a conservator or a registrar giving an interview or being acknowledged for their work in a place that was not hosted by their own professional organisations? I definitely can't remember one, and I read a fair bit about museums!

I hope this has helped open your eyes to all the incredible work that these professionals do to make sure that we can keep enjoying and learning from objects and artworks for generations to come.

I guess all that's left to say is: conservators, registrars, art handlers, security personnel, heritage insurance brokers, fine art transport professionals, educators, and collections staff, we see you and we salute you! Thank you for all that you do!

The next time you're at a museum, make it a point to remember that every single object you see has been cared for, obsessed over, protected, and displayed by this incredible team of people who want you to be able to appreciate the collection. If the museum gives you a chance to drop some feedback, leave them a thank you note. Registrar, thank you for finding this damn thing in your 1 million object data base and cleaning up that record. Mountmaker, your mount was beautifully done! Conservator, wow that infill in that painting was really something. Educator, my kid loved those colouring sheets you gave out at the door. Or maybe, thank you for keeping the museum free - we know it may just be coming out of your own pay cheques.

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