Viewing page 57 of 100

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-50-

at Suitland, their movement could be hazardous both to the collections and to the storage units.  The analysis also determined there are not sufficient units and cases in good condition to complete the task, and this equipment would be needed at the Museum in the future for proper storage of those collections that will remain on the Mall.  Therfore, the Institution will request appropriations necessary, over the long term, to accommodate present collections within the proposed three-tiered self-supporting storage system.  This system will provide the optimum protection for collections and the maximum amount of usable cubic space at the lowest cost per cubic foot.

[[underlined]] Collections inventory. [[underlined]]  The collections inventory program is proceeding well, but the task at the Natural History Museum has proven to be more complex than anticipated and will require more time for completion.  Priority is still being placed on those items to be moved to the Support Center.  A milestone was reached in Archaeology/Ethnology recently, when computer reports were produced for 1/3 of the shelf inventory.  These reports summarize the conservation and storage data recorded for each object, and will be used to plan the move to the Support Center and final location there.

At the Museum of History and Technology, two inventory teams, funded with the special inventory appropriation, continued work in the Divisions of Textiles, Graphic Arts, Electricity, Domestic Life, and Medical Sciences.  In the three-and-a-half week period from January 21 to February 13, the teams inventoried 4,833 objects.  Four coding clerks have continued to process data and recruiting for four additional coding clerks in in process.