In the process

A huge amount of preparation work was completed by our History Curators Gail Romano and Lucy Macintosh prior to moving the objects to our off-site collection centre. They checked through all the items, making sure everything was accounted for against the lists drawn up when we first received the collection. They developed a spreadsheet to record the new objects and split off any objects that would be going to a different Museum department (like, for example, our colleagues in Documentary Heritage).

_{Image: Some of the boxes of 21^st Battalion Association collection being checked against documentation.}

Anoxic treatment

In June 2019, the collection was moved to our offsite facility Manu Tāiko¹ in Otāhuhu, and into our anoxic treatment room. This treatment is another precaution against pests prior to moving objects further into the building where, if infested, they could contaminate a very large quantity of our artefacts.  

Anoxic treatment involves objects being placed inside a specially made enclosure which is filled with nitrogen in order to force out the oxygen. Objects remain in here for a full four weeks.  

From the perspective of a collection manager, this is the least time-consuming, most cost-effective and safest option of pest control, one where everything can be treated in one hit and requiring very little preparation. Freezing, on the other hand, requires tissue to be added to objects to absorb any possible moisture that might cause water damage, then items must be sealed in plastic bags to prevent any moisture ingress from the air during that freezing process.

_{Image: Door to the anoxic treatment room at Manu Tāiko. Monitoring equipment for the anoxic treatment process is on the left.}

With boxes of items now sorted, Callan and Elle prepared the objects for labelling. Each has its own unique accession number that identifies it within the whole acquisition itself.

The object dictates the type of accession number labelling it requires.

_{Image: Applying labels to paper items, such as this map, is a particularly complicated process.}

Preventive conservation in a museum context can be defined as “any measure that prevents damage or reduces the potential for it”.² This rule is one we embrace when we work with the objects we are entrusted with.

Some objects require immediate care prior to storage such as the battalion nail and string artwork here, which showed loose dust and dirt. This was brush vacuumed using a special conservation vacuum with netting placed over the suction pipe end. The netting catches any parts or fragments that may come loose during the process and prevent them being sucked into the dust bag. 

Brush vacuuming not only helps preserve objects by removing organic matter that can attract pests and absorb moisture, but we are also able to notice if new active pests are present by any frass appearing - this is an indication of a new attack. 'Frass' is a term used for insect larvae excrement or a by-product of insect infestation, such as the wood dust left from borer attack.   

Any treatment we apply is noted on the individual database record so that we have a clear history of the object’s care cycle within the Museum.

_{Image: 21^st Battalion nail and string artwork.}

Now it's every object's turn to get photographed. This imaging captures the current state of the objects as well as documenting any damage prior to being received by the Museum. As there were so many objects to photograph, the collection technicians were supported by Richard Ng, the Museum’s contract photographer. Some objects were too big for our processing lab’s photography setup, and these needed a specialist set-up.

Each image is then matched up with the object's database record. This complete record is what you see when you access our Collections Online page (you can even search by colour!).

_{Image: Elle and Richard work together in the large photography suite.}

Where possible, the 21^st Battalion collection has been placed into boxes, each identified in our collection management system database as a ‘packing unit’ with its own unique number. Each object is then connected back to its packing unit so we can always locate it.  

_{Image: This banner (which reads "Abandon rank all who enter here") has been rolled up for many years. It is safer to store rolled in a large box to help relax the rolls.}

Towards the end of the project, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted the final aspects and we completed a few weeks later, in mid-May 2020. As a Collection Manager, it's moments like those that make you grateful for the forward-planning I outlined at the beginning of this blog.

Many people within our Museum have taken part in their own specific professional roles to ensure the 21^st Battalion Association collection can tell its story by making these artefacts fully accessible to communities both onsite and online.  

_{Image: Relocations team member Andrew Shaw is dwarfed by the compactor that holds most of the packing units containing the 21^st Battalion artefacts.}