The 2009 Angels Day took place at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives on Saturday, November 7th.
Twenty volunteers both from the Washington Conservation Guild and the Sumner Museum participated in cleaning, backing, re-housing and movement of the vertical collections, consisting of a variety of materials from photographs, to original wood block prints, to newspaper articles, diplomas, and other significant works relating to the history of the DC Public Schools, their staff and students.
Many were in their original frames. Acidic matting materials were harming the delicate prints, papers and documents. Frames that were causing damage or endangering the artworks they held were removed. Other framed artworks received new backings and/or were surface cleaned. The collection was also consolidated into one storage area. Unframed works were rehoused into folders and boxes, and framed artworks stored against one another were interleaved with acid free board. In total, 125 artifacts were stabilized.
The Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives is the museum repository for 3-D objects and archives from DC Public Schools, 26 of which were closed in the last year due to lack of funding. The Museum has one permanent Curator/Director, Ms. Kimberly Springle, who is responsible for the care of the collections housed at the archive.
The Angels performed cleaning and condition assessments of 52 framed works, many of which were removed from their framing and rehoused in acid-free folders within boxes. Approximately half of these were left in their original frames and only required a new backing board. Twelve over sized paintings were assessed and provided with new backing boards as well. The other remaining 60 framed works were cleaned and were deemed stable in their current framing. All of the collections were moved to a more secure area.
Group shot from Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives (photo by Lisa Young) WCG Angel volunteers condition assessing and removing damaged works of art from frames (photo Lisa Young) of the storage room and interleaved in collections cabinets using acid-free boards. The supplies for this project were funded by the FAIC- American Institute for Conservation Regional Angels Grant and the Washington Conservation Guild.
The following WCG members volunteered: Lisa Young (Angels Coordinator), Patti Favero (WCG Angels Co-Coordinator), Kristin de Ghetaldi, Brian Baade, Sonya Issaeva, Ashley Jehle, Amy Hughes, Melissa Straw, Maggie Barkovic, Brittany Dolph, Kenya Brown, Stephanie Jewell, and Manda Kowalczyk. Volunteers from the Sumner Museum included Kimberly Springle, Ivory Doles, Tish Currie, and Pat Tyson. Thanks to everyone who participated!
Scroll through more photos in the Flickr album below:
