 Name:
Peter Herzog
Where were you born?
Brainerd, Minnesota
What is your professional training?
I started my professional life as an architect.
What was your very first job?
The summer after my 8th grade I worked as a caddy at a local golf course.
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September 17, 2008
National Gallery of Art, London, England.
Climate Change and the Care of Museum Collections presented by the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. Presentation by James M. Reilly. More Info
September 23 & 24, 2008
Philadelphia, PA.
A Space Odyssey: Storage Strategies for Cultural Collections presented by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts. Presentations by both James M. Reilly and Peter Herzog. Further information available at www.ccaha.org. |
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Climate Notes is a free e-newsletter published by the Image Permanence Institute and designed for collection care staff in cultural institutions. Climate Notes covers a wide range of topics related to managing the environment for preservation.
When new or renovated collection storage areas are planned to be built in a library, museum, or archive, it is necessary for the institution to decide on environmental requirements (temperature and relative humidity conditions) for the new spaces. Usually a team of professionals is given the task to work together and, in general, it is easy to get agreement on the general goals for this process:
- Obtain the maximum ‘preservation quality’ in storage areas to ensure longevity for collections.
- Minimize capital and operating costs.
- Ensure minimal inhibition of staff workflow and productivity.
- Be environmentally responsible in choices of materials and energy use.
Once past the generalities, however, the specifics raise many questions that are difficult to resolve. As the process unfolds in real life, administrators, curators, architects, design engineers, mechanical contractors, building operators, and conservators have their own concerns. Ideally, each professional contributes expertise to an overall satisfactory result that makes sense to each participant and meets as many of the general goals as possible. Unfortunately, the ideal is not often reached...
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Appropriate and effective environmental specifications should be based on an understanding of the role of temperature and RH on material decay. Deterioration occurs through three basic modalities: chemical change, biological decay, and mechanical or physical damage.
 Chemical change in collection objects arises in response to heat energy (temperature) and available moisture. Because the change occurs from spontaneous chemical reactions, this type of deterioration is also known as Natural Aging. One form of chemical change is metal corrosion, which is primarily driven by high RH. Other forms of spontaneous chemical change include discoloration, embrittlement, and fading of organic materials (paper, plastics, leather, dyes, textiles, etc.). Temperature and RH combine to control the rate of undesirable chemical reactions. Temperature matters more than RH in the sense that great benefit can result...
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By Peter Herzog, Herzog/Wheeler & Associates - July 2008
The rising cost of energy is putting pressure on cultural institutions to look for ways to reduce energy consumption. In most museums, libraries, and archives, areas dedicated to collections storage typically receive conditioned air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and are maintained at more stringent temperature and humidity conditions. As a result, these spaces consume more energy than almost any other areas.
Our years of performance measurements indicate that a typical 10,000 square foot collections storage area costs between $20,000 and $50,000 per year to condition. As a result, cultural institution facility managers are asking collection managers to consider energy-saving alterations to the operation of storage area HVAC systems.
Energy-saving strategies under consideration may include reducing the quantity of outside air or the quantity of the total conditioned air during periods when the spaces are unoccupied. Another strategy...
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You're in luck! We've put together some available funding options for environmental improvements.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is accepting grant applications to their Conservation Project Support program. The application deadline is October 1, 2008. IMLS awards matching grants of up to $150,000 to help museums identify their conservation needs and priorities, and to help them ensure the safekeeping of their collections through the implementation of sound conservation practices.
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