Museums are custodians of history and culture, but most of their collections are housed in hidden storage rooms. According to the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), “More than 55,000 museums exist in the world, and typically, 90% of their objects are in storage rooms. This concern is becoming increasingly acute: collections inevitably grow while financial resources continue to dwindle.”
The challenge of managing these collections within limited space and resources has led to an urgent need for innovative storage solutions that save space and ensure the preservation of these treasures for future generations.
In this blog post, we explore three game-changing storage solutions: rotary file cabinets, museum cabinets, and high-density mobile storage systems. These revolutionary systems have redefined how museums optimize their storage spaces, efficiently protecting and organizing invaluable artifacts and archives.
Product Spotlight: Rotary File Cabinets
Storage plays a crucial role in museum settings beyond artifact storage and paper archives. Our rotary file cabinets are an ideal solution for any museum’s office space. These space-saving file cabinets offer a dynamic solution, maximizing space utilization while maintaining accessibility.
With back-to-back revolving compartments, these cabinets provide the unique advantage of accessing two banks of stored materials, doubling the efficiency of conventional file cabinet systems.
Rotary file cabinets stand out due to their remarkable adaptability. With customizable drawers, shelves, dividers, and retractable work surfaces, you can tailor these cabinets to accommodate diverse collections, ensuring each item finds its ideal storage space. Plus, multiple locking options provide peace of mind without the hassle of managing whole sets of keys.
Product Spotlight: Museum Cabinets
Designed to preserve artifacts, museum cabinets epitomize versatility and durability. Crafted from heavy-duty steel, the cabinets are tailored to meet the unique and evolving storage needs of diverse museum collections. These museum-grade cabinets prioritize preservation and security. Features like Watershield™ caps and non-off-gassing powder-coat paint safeguard against environmental hazards, ensuring the longevity of stored items.
Museum storage cabinets can make a big difference when it comes to saving space while protecting history’s treasures. When Clemson University’s Warren Latch Conservation Center needed to preserve artifacts from a Civil War-era submarine, they turned to museum cabinets.
Artifacts pulled from the submarine included personal effects of the crew pulled from the bottom of the ocean. To help preserve, store, and catalog their collection, archivists deployed museum cabinets, complete with reinforced shelving, pull-out doors, and flat worktops.
Product Spotlight: High-Density Mobile Storage
The pinnacle of space optimization, high-density mobile storage, redefines storage efficiency. By eliminating unnecessary aisles and creating movable ones, these systems save up to 50% of floor space, allowing museums to expand their collections within the same footprint.
High-density mobile storage is universally adaptable across various industries and has proven instrumental in addressing the specific needs of museums. A case study of the University of Tennessee Herbarium demonstrates how this system accommodated an expanding collection, future-proofing their storage capabilities.
The client knew they needed a solution that would give them more storage space in the same footprint — or smaller. They needed to fit the current collection and an influx of new specimens: “We wanted to be able to fit tens of thousands of specimens in the future.” High-density mobile shelving provided the solution, optimizing space and maximizing collection accessibility.
Save Space while Gaining Peace of Mind
These space-saving cabinet solutions go beyond just reclaiming space. They efficiently empower museum staff to organize, protect, and cherish their collections. By leveraging innovative storage systems, museums can create organized, accessible, and secure archives of cultural heritage.
The key to preserving history lies not just in artifacts, but in their meticulous care and conservation. To explore the perfect storage solution for your museum, connect with a Patterson Pope representative today. Revolutionize your museum storage—saving space while safeguarding our cultural legacy for generations.
