Yale University (Peabody Museum of Natural History)

The Peabody Museum of Natural History will upgrade the storage conditions of approximately 4,700 Asian ethnographic objects to improve their preservation and access. The objects are currently stored in overcrowded conditions piled in wood cabinets. The weapons, clothing, jewelry and other body ornaments, musical instruments, sculpture, religious paraphernalia, and utilitarian objects such as bowls, spoons, and lacquer tableware will be examined for condition, conserved, photographed, and moved to a new anthropology storeroom on campus where they will be rehoused in new cabinets and shelving. These collections have great research potential for anthropologists and other scholars and for integration into the museum's exhibition and education programs. Cleaning, conserving, photographing, and moving the collections will ensure the improved care and preservation of an important anthropology collection, making it available for future research, teaching, and exhibition.