Van Briggle Art Pottery Exhibit, Tile Fireplace Over the years, Lois collected, documented, and studied Van Briggle Pottery, eventually coauthoring two books. She later donated over 225 pieces of Van Briggle to the museum that today form the core of the CSPM Collection. New storage will ensure that these two donations as well as hundreds of other Van Briggle pieces can be preserved for years to come. Van Briggle Art Pottery Collection Storage The ceramics vault which will soon be home to the Van Briggle Pottery Collection currently contains fixed metal shelves storing a wide array of ceramics and glassware. Examples range from tea sets and champagne glasses to perfume and soda bottles. The new compact shelving will consist of high quality powder coated metal shelves on rails that allow rows of shelves (called carriages) to be positioned closely and moved when necessary to allow access. Rather than having five fixed shelves in the room, the new compact storage system allows seven movable shelves and one fixed shelf. As a result, storage capacity for the room will increase by approximately 35%. A crank at the end of each carriage allows staff to carefully shift the shelves by hand to allow safe access. Finally, a decking system and ramp will be placed on the floor to allow staff to safely move storage carts across the rails. Each shelf will have a lip along the front edge to allow access, but prevent accidental breakage when the carriages are moved. To further protect each piece, staff will utilize archival foam planks that are individually carved to securely hold the base of each piece with Tyvek (an inert packaging/storage material) placed as a barrier to prevent potential abrasions. All of these improved storage steps will provide further security for such important artifacts by protecting against vibrations as well as potential damage from moves. Because the design and dimensions of Van Briggle Pottery vary greatly, foam planks of different thicknesses will be used, and the height of each shelf is adjustable. The expected completion date for the Van Briggle Pottery Collection compact storage project is December 2019. We look forward to sharing photographs of the new storage facility with you – and are grateful to the CSPM Board and Clock Tower Society for making this important project possible! MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 3
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