Conservation guidelinesNgā tohutohu tiaki taonga

On this page:

Conservation and collection care
Condition reporting
Conservation material suppliers
Applying accession numbers

Conservation and collection care

Preventive conservation

How do you safeguard the items in your museum? This guide, from National Services Te Paerangi, looks at practical steps you can take to ensure the protection, safety, and security of your collection.

New Zealand Conservators of Cultural Materials (NZCCM)

Use the detailed online directory on the NZCCM website to find a specialist conservator.

New Zealand Conservators of Cultural Materials

Te Papa’s guides to caring for collection objects

• How to care for textiles and kakahu (Māori cloaks)

• How to care for wood and taonga Māori

• How to care for photographs

• How to care for paintings

• How to care for paper and books

• How to care for metal, glass, and stone

From other experts

National Library of New Zealand: Caring for your collections offers advice on caring for a range of objects, including photographs, books, and recordings.

Canadian Conservation Institute: Notes offers practical advice on the care, handling, and storage of cultural objects.

Storage

when storing fragile objects.

Examples

See the storage areas of several small museums in this video by Museums Australia (Victoria).

Building conservation

Damage from a burst water pipe? Or devastation by earthquake, fire, or flood? Is your museum ready for disaster? This guide, from National Services Te Paerangi, looks at how to plan for recovery from emergencies.

From other experts

is a seminar talk by Dean Whiting.

Heritage New Zealand offers a range of resources concerning historic places.

Videos by the Northeast Museum Services Center look at the care of historic sites.

Condition reporting

Condition reporting is a valuable tool for managing collections. This guide offers a systematic approach to reviewing the condition of items in your collection, a consistent framework, and a set of terms for making useful reports.

Conservation material suppliers

Suppliers of conservation treatment and packaging include:

• Conservation Supplies

• Triptych

• Port Nicholson Packaging

• Karsten

For suppliers of acid-free tissue and acid-free card, aluminium rod and custom-made hooks, Dacron wadding, ethafoam, tailors’ forms and mannequins, tubes, Tyvek, and gloves, see page 13 of our guide:

Applying accession numbers

Learn how to apply accession numbers to non-porous stone, glazed ceramics, glass, and uncoated metals with this guide from National Services Te Paerangi, or watch our videos below.

How-to videos:

• Applying accession numbers to textiles

• Applying accession numbers to glazed materials

• Applying accession numbers to unglazed materials