Moving the Collection, Part III

Some of the oversized items we had to move out of the building were large and awkward, if not actually heavy. One of the biggest (literally) challenges we faced in was an extremely large painting that was mounted to the wall at the top of the stairwell on the third floor. Aside from the size ( 7 ½ feet high by 13 feet wide), the painting also presented problems in that we could determine very little about it due to its location. How much it weighed, how it was mounted to the wall, and whether or not it could be easily removed from the frame were all things we did not know. The painting turned out to be three problems in one: how to remove it from the wall over an open stairwell, how to pack it, and how to get it down multiple flights of narrow stairs.

When once asked what characteristic he desired most in his generals, French Emperor Napoleon replied, “Luck!” Luck is always a good thing, and we got lucky with the painting. It turned out to be much lighter than we initially thought. To find this out, we had to get the painting off the wall. Before that, however, we had to get to it. For that purpose, we built a platform that was anchored on the third floor landing and extended out into the stairwell. We called it the “deck.” From there, we used trestles to create an additional platform that was the same height as the railing of the landing so that once the painting was off the wall, it could be lowered onto the trestles and then slid gently over the railing and into the hall with minimal stress to the painting. The entire process would be made either very easy or very hard depending on the weight of the painting and the frame. It turned out that the painting and frame were surprisingly light, so once the brackets that secured it to the wall were removed, it was lowered to the trestles and over the railing to the hall in two easy movements.

We were also lucky in that it turned out the frame was easily removed. This further reduced the weight, and also made the painting about two feet smaller in each dimension. This was very good news in terms of getting it down the stairs. So after the frame was removed, the painting was wrapped in plastic and encased in ridged cardboard for the final step in the process.

We had spent a good bit of time prior to the move thinking about just how we would get this painting down the stairs. For those who have never been in the old house at 1805 Pine Street, the stairs are fairly narrow and zigzag back and forth from landing to landing up to the top floor. Even with the frame removed, the painting was too large to turn the tight corners of the stairs at each landing. This gave us pause. But, working with the simple theory, “they got it in here, didn’t they?” we worked out the best plan to get it out. The answer was a gap of about a foot between the stairs as they zigzagged. It was wide enough and deep enough to fit the painting through. The only question was the weight. If the painting turned out to be extremely heavy, we would need to install some kind of block and tackle system to lower it to the ground. As it turned out, because it was not heavy, we were able to secure two straps to the rigid cardboard container and lower it down with muscle power (photos above). In the end, a project we thought might take the better part of a day only took a couple of hours. Luck is a good thing.

In truth, though, while the painting and the heavy objects were challenging, they were not that unusual for the movers. Packing a horse’s head, however, was quite a different matter. But that’s a story I’ll save for next time.

Moving the Collection, Part II

Anyone who has moved in or out of a house with lots of stairs knows what a difficult and exhausting project it can be. If you add to the equation that what you are moving is a one of a kind collection of Civil War artifacts, the stakes go up in a hurry. In a move such as ours, size does matter, and we had our fair share of things both big and heavy.

As curator, it is far too easy to myopically focus on the primary object when considering the difficulties of a move. In my case, I was very concerned about getting some large bronze busts, one of Abraham Lincoln and one of Admiral George Melville, down the stairs and out of the building. It did not at first occur to me that the busts are hollow and not exceptionally heavy, or that the marble pedestals on which some of them perched might be a bigger problem. But this turned out to be the case.

An experienced mover might tell you that the problem isn’t getting a heavy object down the stairs; it’s getting it to stop at the bottom. For this problem, particularly in the tight spaces we were forced to operate in, muscle power was a better option than any gizmo or gadgetry we could come up with. So in much the same way the Egyptians moved blocks up as they built the pyramids, we built a ramp to bring things down.

The key component is what they call the L-pallet. An L-pallet is basically one third of a box; the bottom and one side. With a brace on each side, the L-pallet gives you a rigid frame on which a heavy object can be moved. As you can see in the picture at the top, the object, whether it is a bust, a pedestal or a battle log, is strongly secured to the L-pallet with minimal contact from the packing materials. The L-pallet thus becomes a movable vehicle for the artifact. Using a dolly, we were able to move the pallet to the edge of the stairs, tip it over on its back, and slide it onto the two by six boards we screwed to the stairs to make the ramp. The original idea was to rig a pulley system to ease the pallet down the ramp. In practice, this proved to be a too complicated for the space that we had. In the end, we attached straps to the L-pallet so that half the crew could lower from above while the rest, myself included, manhandled it to the bottom. This process was slowed by the narrow stairs, which made lowering the items perfectly straight an important priority. To keep the pace from getting away from us, we screwed a board across the ramp about a third of the way up the stairs to provide us with a brake.

I have to confess that just prior to moving the heaviest of the pallets down the stairs (this one was the marble pedestal for the Melville bust) I took the opportunity to have some fun at the expense of an intern named Laura we had working in the basement archives. The basement archives were located directly under the stairs, so I stuck me head in there and made a little show of measuring the room. When she asked what I was doing I told her what we were about to slide a heavy object down the stairs and that I just wanted to make sure that if we lost control of it and it crashed through the floor that it wouldn’t land on her. I assured her that, having looked at the situation, I was “pretty sure” she was safe. She was a trooper, and took it as a joke, but I noticed that when the pedestal was coming down the stairs, she had abandon the archives and watched from the safety of the hallway.

All kidding aside, it was a great relief when we had them down the stairs and out of the building. But we weren’t done moving big things just yet, and more challenges remained. I’ll have more on that next time.

Moving the Collection, Part I.

Well, as some of you may have noticed, there has not been a blog posted here for some weeks. I apologize for that, but I have a pretty good excuse. For the last four weeks, I have been overseeing the packing and moving of the museum’s entire book, archive, and artifact collection out of our longtime home at 1805 Pine Street and into storage in anticipation of our new museum at the First National Bank Building in 2010. It was an extremely difficult job, and one from which I gained a great deal of insight and knowledge.

I benefited from having an excellent crew from Artex Fine Arts Service, to whom I’m extremely grateful for their input, wisdom, and experience. Such an enormous job would not have gotten done without them.

There is an old army expression, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” It was certainly true during this move. Even the most fundamental of plans were inevitably disrupted by closed streets, crew illness (including a car accident), truck breakdowns, and other things too numerous to mention. The heat was often intense; the dust was thick, and the stairs plentiful.

The most challenging aspect of packing and moving any historical collection is that most of the work is custom designed and made right on the spot. From framed paintings and engravings of every size and shape, to uniforms, weapons, battle logs, sculptures, and nearly anything else you can imagine, it had to be packed and transported. Accomplishing this remarkable task requires an artist’s eye for detail, a delicate hand, a strong back, and an ability to improvise.

As shown above, some of the items in our collection needed extremely specialized care. Among the most delicate items in our collection are the leather items, such as sword belts, saddles, knapsacks, and scabbards. Leather is especially susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity. Leather dries out over time and becomes extremely brittle. Moving these items in a safe manner is extremely difficult.

In the photograph at the top of the page, just a few of our leather items are shown as they were packed before they were shipped out of our museum. They were held in place with the clever use of foam and tie downs. It was very important that the leather be stabilized, but with minimal contact from the packing materials. Packed flat on a foam backing, and protected from dust and debris, these items were stable and safe for transport.

In the bottom photo, the Museum’s significant edged weapon collection sits packed and waiting to be loaded on the truck. While it may seem that swords made out of brass and steel would be less of a concern, they too required care and creativity to pack. First, we determined that the best method of storing these objects was in their own scabbards. This made sense for two reasons; first, the scabbard is the natural protective covering for the blade, and we determined that we could not come up with anything that would function better. Second, the blades of the swords in turn provide support for the scabbards. We found this to be a particularly appealing solution to the problem of the fragile nature of the leather scabbards. The swords are supported in two places, insulated against vibration, and again there was a significant effort made to keep the contact between the objects and the packing materials minimal.

One aspect of the move that was out of our control was the weather. While it was often very hot, the more problematic element, rain, was not an issue. We were able to move the materials outside to the waiting truck with no fear of them getting wet. Traffic proved to be a greater problem than the weather, as the city of Philadelphia saw fit to do road work on many of the streets around us. We had difficulty at times getting the truck in and out of Pine Street, and loading in the street was sometimes a tight fit, but it did provide us with the frequent sight of people straining their necks to see some of the amazing pieces that were being loaded. That made me smile many times.

We had some very interesting challenges getting some of the larger, heavier, or more awkward items packed and out of the Museum. I’ll be posting some blog entries on some of those challenges very soon. Stay tuned.