During my internship at the Amon Carter, I am working on the cataloging, photographing, and housing of artists’ materials that have been collected over several years by the Amon Carter’s paper conservator. She has scoured the internet for various materials from the 19th century to the early 20th century, purchased the items, and now wishes to use the collection as an educational resource for both museum visitors and the employees within the Amon Carter. The educational goal of this collection is to gain an understanding of what types of materials were available to artists in the past and how they used these objects to create artworks. Much of the materials predate modern materials like acrylics, so many are primarily composed of organic or inorganic (minerals) pigments and materials.
Watercolor boxes and kits have been a recurring object of many shapes, sizes, and materials. Many are of brands that are still utilized today such as Reeves and Winsor & Newton. Most contain the same colors, but with slight variations of name depending on the brand. Boxes of tempera paints have also been collected, composed of glass jar containers and wooden boxes. Many of these objects are relatively fragile, some have never been used so the paint is still in the bottles and many are composed of lead paints, so they must be handled with caution. There are a number of paintbrushes in the collection of varying condition, shape, size, and brand. It is a very large and diverse collection.
As I handle these objects, I’m noting the information that the objects provide. In an Excel spreadsheet, I am creating a full listing and catalog of the objects within the collection. Each object is assigned an accession number, which is essentially a unique record number to find the object in a catalog and physically (ex. A201X.00X.001). From there, the object is named and described through brand, manufacturer, type of object, medium, measurements, and label text. For sets such as watercolor kits, a “parent” record is assigned for the entirety of the contents and then broken down by its components and given unique numbers under the parent accession number (ex. A201X.00X.001.001). Everything is cataloged within the object. If it is a painting kit, every color in that kit will receive a record. I have completed about 122 objects/sets, but since the records for each object within a set get their own record as well, I have done over 600 records so far. So far I am about halfway (maybe) through the first enormous box of boxes, and there is a second full one as well.
Once the record is completed, the objects must be photographed. The accession numbers must be visible to determine what the object is, as well as all the components of the object. The objects are laid down on paper where the accession number is written below as a label. Since the numbers are constantly changing, I have cut out numbers to provide a label as to what is what on the object.
When the full record is created and photographed, the object must be properly prepared for storage. Archival paper is used to wrap and protect the object. Using a label maker, we print out the accession number and place it on the tissue paper so the object can be easily identified. After the object is wrapped and labeled, it is placed within an archival box that is labeled and input as the location of the object in its record. The object is placed in the box as well as other objects until the box is full. More archival paper is used to cushion the objects from any potential harm from being moved. Once the box is full, it is placed with the other completed boxes and is ready for storage.
Creating this catalog has been a very interesting venture that I have enjoyed very much so far. I am doing my work in the conservation lab and collaborate with the paper conservator as well as the archivists to determine what the best way to describe and store the objects is. During breaks, the archivists and conservationists have shown me some of the work that they do within the museum and have shown me other departments and the storage areas. It’s a lot of information to take in, but it’s all been very exciting!
My goodness! You have been busy! My eyes bugged out when I read that you've already done 600 records so far! You are on a roll!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about the process that you are going through each day in your internship. The level of detail that you engage in while cataloguing each piece was helpful in imagining what your days look like. And, to read that your colleagues are taking you under their wing to show you around made me happy :) To work in the conservation lab too! Do you smile every day you get to walk in there? :)
Do you have a favorite thing that you've catalogued so far?
Yeah, some of them go real quick cause the information is generally the same for each record, but others take a lot longer! I do, it's been really incredible to be in the conservation lab and get to see the vaults and archives of the museum, there's so much. I'm going to ask if I can post a photo or not (my photos may be used for the final records?) so I can show what I've been working on, my favorite things have been the more unique paint boxes. One was a photo oil paint box that was used for colorizing photographs from the 1950's-ish(?), and I've done two wooden boxes that are from about the 1800's that were paint sets to make your own illuminated manuscript pages.
ReplyDeleteHoly Crap... I'm so jealous, this all sounds SO COOL! Teach me your ways! The process sounds amazingly complicated and cool, I had no idea that it went so in depth.
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