In a massive cleaning and re-storage effort, 20 WCG members and graduate interns worked on the agricultural collections at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM).

JPPM is a 516-acre historical farm, donated to the state of Maryland as a working farm to educate the public about historical farming practices. The collection is comprised of farm tools and household implements from the 19th and 20th centuries, which are stored in a non-controlled climate.

Accumulated dust was removed by vacuum cleaning, objects were rehoused in archival polyethylene bags padded with ethafoam, where appropriate desiccated silica gel was used, and the objects were moved to the climate-controlled rooms of the JPPM Farm Exhibit Building.

A total of 98 boxes of objects were unpacked, rehoused and placed in storage. Additionally, 10 boxes of vintage farm tools, a total of 167 objects, were sorted and placed in 2 storage cabinets to create a study collection. The objects were inventoried and reorganized by accession number. Over 1600 man hours were worked during the day of the event.

This event allowed JPPM to move their conservation efforts forward and showed the institution’s administration that the community cares about their collections.

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