The Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of the American Indian's 800 thousand object collections move has had an impact that extends well beyond its initial success. Methods developed have been adapted for use in a wide variety of applications both for move projects and in day to day use.
Completed in 2004, the project came in on-time and on-budget which stands out among other major move projects of its type. For our purposes it should be noted that the project introduced a number of methods and materials adapted from common commercial practice and that resulted not only in a remarkably low level of damage during the move process (this considering the number of objects so unstable that they were literally falling apart on the shelves that they were stored on), but also in what was inarguably the "greenest" move process of its type employed to date. To a large degree this was the result of the calculated multiple-reuse of recyclable materials, utilized in a cyclical process where materials were packed for transit on a one truck a week schedule with materials from the previous weeks load being returned for reuse after each trip. Contributing to the effectiveness of this strategy, to a large extent, loose fill material was virtually eliminated resulting in both increased visibility and reduced handling during the entire process.
Please check out the videos below.
Follow the object - project overview.
Crating system
Truck loading
Moving a totem pole
Storage boxes for oversized long weapons
Barcoding system
Bead counting aid
Foam tray inserts
Bean bag supports
Pot rings
Imaging for the project
Conservation Treatments
Object Cleaning
Cyclododecane stabilization