The Little World

Or worrying your shelves. Some people are like that…

I am currently shelving, boxing, and arranging my scale model collection and discovering why museum staff have a certain look on their faces: that of murderous Tetris players.

Every museum worth it’s salt – and that includes private collections – has simultaneously more than it should and less than it could. Things have arrived and never left – other things will never be acquired. The worst situation arises when things that have arrived cannot be found.

” We did have one – now where could it be…? “

There are times when you feel like you have Captain Kidd’s treasure map but have lost the shovel.

Shelving, cabinet storage, lighting, cataloging, security, dusting…and that’s just the loo rolls for the toilet. The collection is much more trouble

I did start out well when I had more money than sense – i selected a sturdy IKEA Billy bookcase with doors as a pattern for most of the collection – and it worked in a fashion until the thing grew past the capacity of the shelves. More were put in, and they filled.

Then the overflow was put into sealed presentation boxes and these racked onto industrial shelving. Practical, if ugly. Now it threatens to overflow.

The next experiments involve sorting and boxing ancillary items that do not need to be displayed. They can live in sealed boxes until needed for a photo shoot.

And finally, the under-bed plastic boxes that store blankets and shoes may prove the solution to housing multi-engine bombers and airliners. These are far too big for any commercial shelving.

I can see that dealing with the logistics of the MOMA or Victorian Museum would be an entire career, and a tough one, that would need many people.