I just posted this on the PACCIN forum and was encouraged to try here as well (of course!):
Hello out there. We have the aspirational goal of organizing the disparate mounts our museum has accumulated over the decades and I would love to hear how others do this. Do you have a centralized location for your mounts? Are they tagged as related accessories to the objects? Any information would be appreciated including a photo of your mount storage. Â
Thanks in advance!
Laura
Hi Laura, We keep some mounts but not all.
Our Anthropology dept. vets this (not the MountShop). They will keep a mount if it is free standing or on a panel and if it will fit into Anthro collection space. They give the mounts a temporary tag that connects it to the objects in their part of the database. Sometimes objects are stored on such mounts and sometimes they are not. If seperated from the object they have a seperate shelf unit in storage dedicated to mounts. So at the end of a show we will offer mounts to any of the collection managers to see if they want the mount back with the object. Some of the various department want the mounts because the mount can also be used as a storage mount. Sometimes they want the mount because it may be an item they like to pull out a lot and put on display for tours. If that is the case it is the various departments that keep track of the mounts.
I have been grateful for the mounts our collection managers manage to keep. Those stashed mounts do get re-used in house or for loans.
I have tried keeping mounts in the shop but I am so limited with space that it either gets canabalized or tossed out.
Best of Luck
Pam