The Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee is a 77,000-square-foot facility perched on an 80-foot canopy overlooking the beautiful Tennessee River. Founded in 1952, the Museum of American Art features an extensive collection from the colonial period to the present. The museum complex also consists of three unique interconnected structures built in 1905, 1973 and 2005 representing 100 years of the building. Architecture of each era reflects the tastes and techniques created.
Like most museums, the Hunter Museum's purpose is to make important works of art available to the public and to preserve these items for future generations. To protect its assets, museums need to maintain a stable indoor climate and prevent adverse environmental conditions that can harm objects and cause deterioration. Temperature and relative humidity (RH), in particular, need to be carefully controlled and maintained at appropriate levels (68°-72°F temperature, 50% RH +/- 5% fluctuation). These parameters are important because elevated temperatures can cause thermal damage to specific objects, and high RH levels can cause mold formation and cause objects to corrode, deform, crack or wrinkle.
challenge
Environmental control was a particular challenge at the Hunter Museum because it houses objects made of a variety of materials. This includes painting, works on paper, sculpture, photography, the use of multimedia, furniture, glass and contemporary studios. Another key challenge was to balance good storage conditions with driving comfort. Chattanooga's humid summer heat required extra vigilance by the hunter museum's administrators about climate control in their three buildings.
solution
To achieve greater environmental control at the Hunter Museum, academic deans Elizabeth Le and Teresa Slowikowski, who are responsible for implementing a process related to the health facility's permanent collections, rely on an internal climate-control computer system. This system also documents and stores historical data, such as temperature and humidity readings. However, when the museum recently requested an exhibition registrar from a major museum, they realized they had a problem. Lenders require three years of climate control readings before agreeing to loan exhibitions. The registrar found that although the system in the climate control section of the Hunter Museum was working fine, the data logging section was malfunctioning and the data had only been kept for two weeks.
The company installed the environmental system to inform them that part of the data logging system could not be repaired. "The right problem we faced was buying a new system that we couldn't afford," Le said. "What's more, the new system wasn't necessary because the climate control part was functioning well. At the time, building maintenance personnel had no choice but to manually log temperature and RH data every two weeks to start building up years of historical data."
Manual data collection is very time-consuming and difficult to retrieve due to numerous individual records, Slowikowski and search for a more optimal solution. They are familiar with HOBO, as they have successfully used older models in the past. In the end they chose to purchase and install to begin the gallery of the HOBO® Wireless Temperature Logger MX1101. The Logger, utilizing professional Bluetooth Smart technology, continuously measures and records temperature and RH clock, and enables register download readings from a wireless smartphone or tablet up to 100 feet away.
result
The Hunter Museum Wireless Temperature and Humidity Logger MX1101 offers many advantages.
First, they eliminate the time and cost associated with manual data collection, collecting data when and where it is needed. They provide audible and visual alarms to notify employees of potential problems and immediate corrective action can be taken.
"We need to keep every data record and monitor for any extreme changes," Slowikowski said. "If there's a paper buckle or corrugation, we can shrink that with HOBO's aid."
When a museum glass sculpture begins to develop a small crack, she explains, a wireless temperature logger MX1101 is strapped directly to its base. Register the use of the data logger to prove that the current environmental conditions of the sculpture are within the standard range and that cracks are likely to be caused by inherent defects. The museum is able to document the analysis used and provide detailed measurement readings when considering crack causes and repairs.
Second, the device can be deployed in inaccessible places if necessary, including storage areas and display screens, where access to data is very simple and convenient using mobile devices.
"We have three distinct building properties, all interrelated, and each with their own climate control needs," Le said. "With the mobile app, I can retrieve data from each HOBO location that I need to use my iPod immediately."
"Having worked at the Hunter Museum for 20 years, Ms. Le and I have seen data recording technology evolve," Slowikowski said. "We've come a long way with hygrometers in the 1990's when it comes to data logging charts on spinning metal barrels. HOBO is such an advancement and an important tool for us. We're very happy with them."
Finally, the wireless temperature logger MX1101 provides evidence of the environmental facility report's submission date, documents adoption of the American Alliance of Museums' application and receipt of exhibits and loans.
"Now with HOBO, we have historical data and real-time data at our fingertips," Le said.
