As soon as I saw the dollhouse known as Fantasy House (probably made in France in the mid-20th century), my curiosity was piqued, to say the least. In preparation for The Strong’s fall 2025 exhibit entitled Dollhouses Unveiled, I was able to spend time examining a number of dollhouses from our founder Margaret Strong’s original collection with curator Michelle Parnett-Dwyer. We both couldn’t help but linger on this piece, marveling over the extent of the details inside, which was a […]
The Value of Interns and Museums: Creating Pathways to Careers in Museums
Internships are typically a rite of passage for most students in undergraduate and graduate programs with goals of ultimately working in a museum. Internships provide a unique opportunity for students to test the waters and explore various career paths, while learning what working in a certain position or institution may really be like. Internships are greatly beneficial because they provide the ever so important hands-on experience for a student, allowing a practical application of the theories, practices, and ethics that […]
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What’s In A Name….Well, A Lot Actually, Especially When It Comes to Conservation, Preservation, and Restoration
Collections care terms can be utterly confusing, even among trained museum professionals. A term a registrar may use could be completely different from a director or an art preparator, and may not ultimately have detrimental outcomes for the misused term. But misusing the terms conservation, preservation, or restoration could leave your collections items or personal artifacts in the wrong hands for care.
What is Conservation?
Conservation encompasses all the actions taken toward the long-term care of cultural heritage. Activities include examination, […]
Preventive Conservation: Preserving Entire Collections for the Long Term
Have you ever heard the saying ”an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.?” A truer saying couldn’t be more appropriate for the preservation and care of collections. Spending funds and energy proactively on preventive care is the most efficient way to preserve an entire collection for the long term, rather than reacting and treating damage that has already occurred to an individual object. Any type of action that can be implemented to mitigate the agents of deterioration—physical […]
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To Glove or Not to Glove: Wearing Gloves for Collections
In the very few movies that have depicted museum staff, the characters have usually worn little white cotton gloves when handling precious collections items (for example, 2004’s National Treasure, where an archivist helps protect the Declaration of Independence from being stolen). When I tell people I work in a museum, they almost always mention or ask about the white cotton gloves. But is that a realistic depiction of how actual museum staff handle collections?
Are gloves necessary for handling collections?
As part […]
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Hazardous Materials in Collections
As an extremely active collecting museum, The Strong National Museum of Play is home to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play. While it’s our mission to collect and preserve artifacts, sometimes the items we collect have the potential to cause harm, whether that’s from the inherent materials that were used during production, materials that were added to the artifact later, or artifacts that pose risks from handling. While some obvious collection items that […]
