Chicago Academy of Sciences Blog
Articles tagged Preservation
February 15, 2021
How do museums preserve reptile specimens?
In order to better understand reptile and amphibian species, research institutions like the Chicago Academy of Sciences / Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum create and maintain extensive collections of specimens that are fundamental tools for studying our living environment.
January 18, 2021
Feasting on Feathers: What’s Eating Your Stuff?
If you visited the Nature Museum in 2011, there’s a good chance you walked through our exhibition titled Feasting on Feathers, exploring the damage pests can do to museum collections and how to prevent it. In this special Founders Week blog, we’re taking a look back at this exhibition and learning how we can protect our precious collections both at the Nature Museum and at home.
April 14, 2014
A Unique View: The Motion Film Cataloguing Project
Background As part of the Collections Inventory Project, Collections staff with the Chicago Academy of Sciences and its Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (CAS/PNNM) conducted an inventory and preliminary condition survey of the museum’s motion film collection in 2011. The majority of the over 1,300 films were original films created by Academy staff, Board members, and local naturalists, created between the mid 1920s and the 1980s. These films documented Academy field studies, local natural areas, and different species, as well as travel by Academy staff and Board members to conduct research for exhibits. Historically, these films were used regularly by the Academy in public programs and presentations. Now, the films were becoming increasingly fragile, and the information contained within their frames was found nowhere else.Preservation Issues The films were still in their original metal and cardboard containers and needed to be rehoused with archival quality materials. The original containers — acidic papers, cardboard, adhesives — were causing the film to deteriorate.