Although the new Polar Museum looks ‘finished’ the installation of the objects into the new museum space is not the end of the story.
A lot of time and skill went into cleaning and conserving the display objects and we now have to ensure that the museum environment is not causing any further damage to them.
The objects can potentially be damaged by four things whilst on display; light (particularly from the ultraviolet (UV) end of the spectrum), relative humidity, temperature and insect pests.
We can control and monitor all these dangers and this is done in a number of ways, some hidden and some more obvious!
Amundsen’s marker flag
We have a large number of textiles on display and, on the whole, these are most susceptible to fading caused by UV light and damage by pests. The image above is the black textile marker flag used by Amundsen, which was found near the South Pole by Edward Wilson.
The LightCheck monitor
In the close-up image you can see a blue coloured Light Check monitor to the right of the flag. The blue dye is very sensitive to light and will fade. The colour is regularly compared to a calibration chart to determine the equivalent luminous exposure (ELE). The luminance of light is measured in lux and a lux monitor can be seen in the image below.
LightCheck and UV monitor
In this case, I am taking two light level readings, one using the box in the bottom of the image. This sends data using a radio telemetric system back to my computer and I download this information into a graph. The LightCheck (next to the avittat scissor case in the centre of the image) is a more visual check of any light damage as the blue will fade if exposed to light. In simple terms, we try to keep lux levels low and limit exposure time to prevent the textile fading and becoming brittle.
There are also pheromone traps in the cases containing fur and textile items. These attract moths and they become stuck to the sticky board on the base of the trap. The traps are hidden away out of sight and I monitor them every three months. I am pleased to report they have been empty so far.
Finally I monitor the temperature and relative humidity in the cases and in the museum space. Again these monitors are tucked away out of sight in the cases but there is one visible in the Museum Shop.
Environmental monitor in the Museum Shop
So the next time you are in the Polar Museum have a closer look and see if you can spot the environmental controls.
(Images © SPRI/Fiona Cahill)
