PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Museum Collection

Regional Curator Jean R. Swearingen spent a week in early November 1971 at Pipe Spring going over miscellaneous problems with historic building interiors and with the collection on exhibit. Her visit took place shortly before the transfer of Pipe Spring National Monument from the Southwest Region to the Midwest Region on November 15, 1971. During her visit, the regional curator stated that the monument needed $10,000 to start restoration and preservation of its collection. [2229] As a follow-up to her visit, Jean Swearingen prepared and sent to Regional Director J. Leonard Volz (Midwest Region) and the Southern Utah Group copies of her report, "Preliminary Guide to Interpretive Maintenance." [2230] The report included maintenance themes, general instructions for maintaining a house museum display, and maintenance procedures for caring for specific types of artifacts. In her cover letter to Volz, Swearingen stated the value of historic furnishings at Pipe Spring was conservatively estimated at $75,000. She urged Volz to get the monument's collections professionally appraised. She also recommended that Mel Heaton and Zion's Keith Wilkins be sent to Harpers Ferry Center for conservation training. A room-by-room inventory of curatorial work still needed to be done, she wrote, "the kind of problem that I transfer over to you all." [2231]

In 1973 Dr. David Wallace and Vera Craig of Harpers Ferry Center made an inspection of the monument's collections. Routine preservation included treating of wood surfaces exposed to the weather. In November 1974, former Park Historian Robert W. Olsen, Jr. (then working at the Division of Museum Services at Harpers Ferry Center), spent a week at Pipe Spring updating collection records and assisting monument staff with curatorial problems. In February 1974, the monument obtained a small utility trailer. Located in the utility area, the trailer was used to store museum collections and other equipment. The trailer, in Olsen's opinion, did not provide adequate storage for museum collections. (For a while it leaked badly whenever it rained; finally, its roof was repaired.) Olsen recommended that a room in the new visitor center or the fort be dedicated for storing collections. [2232]

On May 30, 1975, Regional Curator Ed Jahns (Rocky Mountain Region) visited the monument to consult with its staff on collections management issues. In addition to other recommendations, Jahns pointed out the need for staff to receive training in conservation work, particularly for leather and wood, and recommended Mel Heaton take a preservation maintenance course. He also emphasized the need for a furnishings plan for the historic buildings. [2233] Jahns returned to the monument in August 1976 to meet with staff. The decision was made to not actively add to or dispose of furnishings in the collection until a furnishings plan was approved. The trailer was still being used for collections storage, a situation Jahns did not approve of. As Director Gary E. Everhardt had issued a Service-wide directive that historic objects not be used in a consumptive manner, Glenn Clark was faced with the need to acquire a collection of reproductions to be used in the living history program. Jahns expressed concern about the poor condition of many leather objects in the collection and advised monument staff on treatment methods. [2234]

In 1976 Clark organized an extensive curatorial program, carried out by the monument's permanent interpretive staff. Its primary objectives were to 1) conduct a complete inventory of over 2,000 artifacts and create a location card file indicating location, condition, and estimated value for each object; 2) accession items found in the inventory with no records; 3) deaccession all items no longer in the collection; 4) separate artifacts that had never been accessioned for professional review to determine if they should be included in the collection; 5) compile a list of artifacts recommended for deaccession; 6) compile a list of items needing professional curatorial work; 7) identify and mark objects to be used only in the living history program; 8) organize a historic photograph file; and 9) organize a slide file. [2235] By December 1976 a location inventory of the Pipe Spring collection was completed. [2236] (See "Monument Administration" section for storage problems created during emergency work in November 1976 that required the emptying of the fort's parlor and kitchen and floor removal.)

By the end of 1977, much of the curatorial work outlined by Clark in 1976 had been completed. The photograph and slide files were still being organized. The main problem faced by the monument was lack of a proper place to store artifacts. Talk of a new maintenance structure with storage facilities offered hope for a solution, but funds were not available for its construction. During 1978 and 1979, Fred Banks worked on developing a curatorial management plan for the monument, with help from Ed Jahns.