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New Shelving Installed for Collection Storage

The installation of new shelving in the artifact room at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society has recently been completed. This new shelving was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which was awarded earlier this summer. Not only does this shelving make better use of the artifact room's space, it also makes for easy access to the many artifacts in the Society's collection. The artifact room itself is a relatively new addition to the Society's headquarters, and has provided needed space and security for the Society's collection. This project completes the Society's plan to create a safe and secure place for their collection. The items are now stored in a room monitored by a security system and temperature and humidity controls.

The shelving that has been installed is a type of shelving that is popular with many museums called Spacesaver. It makes the most of small spaces by eliminating the wasted space of having many aisles. Instead, the shelving is mobile and with the turn of a handle an aisle can be created between any two sections of shelving. Every bit of space is important when the other options for collections storage are basements and closets, which can have conditions that are detrimental to historic pieces.

The shelving was installed over the course of four weeks in September and October of this year by Haldeman-Homme, Inc, a shelving company in Minneapolis, MN. The most time consuming part of the process was pouring the new concrete for the floor that the rails are set in. The new shelves are mounted on the rails that help them slide back and forth. A circular handle on each shelf allows them to be moved to the right or left to create a space for accessing the shelving. Even when loaded with large pieces of heavy furniture the shelves are easily moved.