Cleaning for the Commonwealth

As we head into the final weeks before the opening of our new permanent exhibit, The Commonwealth: Divided We Fall, it’s exciting to see so much of our collection on deck and ready to be mounted for display! Many of the artifacts in this exhibit have never been displayed before (or haven’t been brought out in a long time), so our collections staff assessed whether any objects needed cleaning before further preparation for long-term display.

We selected several artifacts made of various materials that needed basic cleaning such as removing dirt or rust. To remove layers of dirt, we first lightly dusted the objects using soft art brushes. We then applied mineral spirits or alcohol (depending on the material) with cotton balls and q-tips. The mineral spirits also helped remove layers of rust before applying Rust-Oleum to protect from further deterioration. Cleaning artifacts is both a challenging and satisfying process. Sometimes, we can return an object’s condition and appearance almost to its original state, but when we can’t, we can be confident in our methods to prevent it from worsening as much as possible. We also want to ensure any attempts at cleaning or restoring do not create additional damage to the artifact.

Collections staff preparing to clean the contents of the c. 1800 surveying kit, March 1, 2022.

Collections Manager, Tish Boyer, examining the material composition of a measuring tool within the surveyor’s kit, March 1, 2022.

Manager of Collection Impact, Hayley Rankin, preparing to clean artifacts, March 1, 2022. *Mask a result of museum covid-19 policy; however, masks are sometimes necessary to protect against irritants and when cleaning or restoring with harsher chemicals. Gloves are always used.

For The Commonwealth, our Collections and Curatorial Staff cleaned a surveying kit c. 1800, iron gallows rings, a tobacco stalk cutter, a wooden ballot box, in addition to polishing a silver sugar caster. The most difficult, time-consuming object was easily the long iron surveyor’s chain that was covered in rust, but is now restored and protected.

Visit The Commonwealth when it opens to the public on June 1st to see the results of our “behind-the-scenes” collections care proudly on view!

-Hayley Rankin, Manager of Collection Impact