Dilemma for Collection Holders

The Southland Times article, 'Churches, pubs on quake-prone list' published a month ago, shows several rural museums in buildings categorised as quake-prone:

• Otautau Courthouse - Otautau Museum
• Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka office - Whare Taonga
• Te Hīkoi - Wallace Early Settlers Association Collection and Archives
• Wyndham & Districts Historical Museum

Interestingly, three of these groups own their collection but not the building in which it is housed. The Rūnaka owns both its collection and the building so they have a bigger burden.

So what is the future for these collections? Can the owners of the buildings get seismic upgrades? Will there be any funding available?

Good museum management is all about reducing risk. So what are the risks in storing a collection in a quake-prone building? Complete destruction comes to mind. But are collections any more at risk than they have been for the last 30 years? Scientists say we should expect a major quake in the next few decades so perhaps they are.

We don't own our own building, the Courthouse, so as a volunteer collection manager, I have been wondering what we can do to protect our collection other than securing shelves to the wall (which we've done) and keeping things boxed up (which we've also done). This week we are applying for funding for more shelving to store our objects, but I will be looking into the matter of earthquake protection for our collection over the next few months. This is a serious issue and one we want to address.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Interesting Artefacts

Keith Todd is a metal detection enthusiast. Using metal detectors at Holt Park and the Arboretum, he has found all kinds of odds and ends - most of them were only a few inches below the surface. He came by the museum today with this collection of aluminium cans, an old steel ax head with a very distinctive shape, a coat hanger, coins and many other things.

But he singled out these stamps which he thought would be of greatest interest. The top one is for the Rondo Piano Company. I searched for this on Papers Past and found a few advertisements for this company in Gisborne c.1910. Do you know anything about this piano business and why we would've had a stamp here in Otautau?

The other stamp is for a bicycle. Can anyone suggest where it may have come from? A local bicycle shop?

 

Keith is keen to teach others about metal detection and what's entailed. If you'd like to learn more, please contact us and we'll put you in touch.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!