Star Island Corporation (Thaxter Museum in Vaughn Cottage)

The Celia Thaxter Museum in Vaughn Cottage will create a better preservation environment for the museum's collections, improve intellectual control of the collections, and improve storage methods for the three- dimensional artifacts and large paper items in the collections. The project will: 1) improve the interior environment of the museum building by tightening the building covering and installing a vapor barrier over a dirt crawlspace beneath the building; 2) install air conditioning units and commercial grade dehumidifiers; 3) install blackout blinds and UV and light-filtering blinds to significantly lessen light exposure in the exhibit room; and 4) hire two interns to inventory the artifact and art collections, upgrade storage methods, and record new storage locations. The proposed activities will result in a greatly improved environment for the long-range preservation of the collections, both on exhibit and in storage.