Preserve, Protect, and Defend: A Practical Guide to the Care of Collections has been written by Barbara Appelbaum and aims towards making the lives of museum workers easy.
This is a book that is full of sources for all professionals related to the museum industry. Anyone who is either a curator or a manager, a registrar or an administrator, or even an expert on pest control has sources that will be useful to them.
Along with the professionals associated with the museums, this book also a great source of information for anyone holding a private collection and individuals who have an interest in the preservation of various collections. It acts as a guide.
It also plays an important role for a person who wishes to volunteer or work as an outside consultant to a museum. The book has been designed to give insight to people of various interests and different levels of expertise. It is a useful source guide to anyone who wants to start a museum related to any field.
Various topics covered in this book are
· Safety practices for routine collections
· Assessments for conservation
· A practical guide for examination of collections and uncovering safety challenges of buildings
· Safety protocols for collections happening routinely
· Advance planning for unforeseen natural hazards like water and wind penetration, smoke and fire, and other infestations
· How to control the environment of the museums which includes temperature and humidity checks, light and air quality, and lightening
Barbara Appelbaum’s book is a great source of information about the various aspects of museums and the people associated with them. The language used in this book is easy to understand and follow. It is a valuable and must-have book to be added to your library if you are an individual who loves to collect and gather information
The goals of the book are to share in-depth and in an easy language the principles behind collections care to the people at a museum so that they can have a meaningful art conversation with the experts and collectors, for anyone to evaluate the reliability factor of various sources printed and online, the book also aims to help the handlers in an everyday museum operation.
The book’s chapters are grouped into six sections.
· Section 1 is inclusive of chapters 1 and 2 and explores the meaning of “art preservation” and how it relates to “art conservation”.
· Section two starts from chapter 3 and goes up to chapter 7 and deals with collections care and experts dealing with the processes for care. It also describes the assessment process and making recommendations ensuring a fruitful outcome.
· Section 3 includes chapters 8 to 12; this section deals with the decision-making process related to the collection care issues as they are multi-dimensional and multi-departmental involving many authorities including outside consultants.
· Section 4 of the book includes chapters 13 to chapter 18 which talks about the environment of the museum and its effects on preservation.
· Section 5 includes chapters 19 to 24 and shares inputs on the advance planning for any unforeseen hazards that may affect the collection, documentation, furniture, and the building itself. Also extending to the health and safety of staff and visitors.
· And the last section, section 6 speaks about how conservators look at collections and enhancement of visitor’s experience and ways to increase the visitor ship.
This book talks about how people from all over the world working in numerous museums, archives, libraries, art centers, and such places have difficult choices to make every now and then to preserve, protect and defend the collection in their care.
This book is a great addition to museums of all sizes, libraries, and private collections and will help one save your collections against theft, damage, and other factors that can lead to its deterioration.
Reviews
This book has been highly appreciated by readers and has garnered raving reviews. It has a five-star rating and is considered a valuable insight for anybody associated with museums. In addition to taking care of all the collections, the book also gives tips on how to protect the artifacts from critics.
The language of the book is very clear and easy to comprehend. It gives an insight to museum collection managers, their staff, and other people connected with the museum about the risks and requirements of their collections and how to tackle them.
The book is highly recommended by a professor of historic preservation programs for its comprehensive and precise content. It has also been included in their course syllabus and is considered a masterpiece. It is a must-read for anyone who is inclined towards artifacts, their preservation as well as how to cope with the challenges imposed by nature which may have drastic effects on them.
