Sharing Storage Solutions

This website provides information and tools so that institutions of all types, sizes and resource levels can learn how to create safe and appropriate storage solutions. These solutions were written by and for collection care professionals in all fields.  In some cases there are multiple examples to demonstrate that there is no single best solution for storage, it is about meeting the needs for your collection, in your space with your resources. Together we can build a resource where varied solutions are presented for adaptation and use across our field.

Why Improve Storage?

The 2005 Heritage Health Index Survey found that 89% of all collection holding institutions had inadequate storage facilities, citing problems ranging from lack of space to inappropriate environments. 65% of all institutions reported damage due to improper storage.  Improving the physical conditions in storage is a highly effective and easily achievable way to substantially boost overall preservation.

How To Use This Site

Articles on this site are organized by storage configurations rather than discipline-specific techniques. This is designed to stimulate the user to transfer and adapt the methods developed for one type of collection to another.  The Resources section of the site provides helpful tools for sourcing and constructing storage solutions. Click on the magnifying glass icon on the top menu bar to search using keywords.

NEW on STASHc

• Egg Storage: Epoxy Putty Cases and Bespoke Boxes
• Visible Storage for Books with Separated Spines
• Microfossil Slide Boxes
• Custom Storage Boxes for Interactive Exhibit
• Life Saving Measures: The Treatment and Display of a WWI Era Harlem Hellfighters Gas Mask
• Innovative Internal Mounts for Basketry
• Circular Tyvek Pillows for Art Objects in Storage
• Accordion-fold Divider System
• Objects Secured to a Removable Tray
• Objects Secured Directly to a Box
• Objects Secured in a Box with Shaped Bumpers
• Cavity Packing Objects
• Creating a Custom Enclosure for Oversized Rolled Graphic Recordings
• Desiccant Tubes for Storage of Unstable Metals
• Flexible Housing Design for Storage of Ethnographic Objects in a Library
• Storage Solution for Housing Sample Books
• Tanks and Liners for Immediate Storage of Waterlogged Collections 
• Construction of Anoxic Microenvironments – Project Airless
• Padded Body-Form Hangers for Tailored Jackets
• Making Ethafoam Preservation Rollers for Storing East Asian Scrolls
• An Avant-Garde Approach to Mounts and Boxes
• Window Lids for Large, Heavy Flat Objects and Specimens
• Micro-climate and High Density Storage: Boxes for Archaeological Metals and Other Environmentally Sensitive Objects
• Creating Dust Covers For Large Objects
• Storage System for Two-dimensional Mixed Media Shadow Puppets with Plastic Film
• Adaptive re-use of wood material for hanging long and thin objects on less utilized spaces
• Hanging Rolled Textiles On Underutilized Spaces
• Hanging textile collections using common materials
• Northwestern University Library Boxing Protocol
• Clamshell Box with Interior Shelf and Scavengers for Fragile Metal Object
• A Custom Housing for a Historic Photograph
• Housing Broken and Irregularly Sized Glass Plate Negatives
• Mylar Preservation Rollers for East Asian Scrolls
• Annotating Images with a Smartphone App
• Dual Purpose Mounts for Folding Fans
• Vertical Storage for Small Robust Archaeological Objects
• Panoramic Photograph Housing 
• Hanging Storage for Oversized Rolled Objects
• Storage for Buttons, Pins and Badges
• Cavity Supports for Objects with Protruding Bottom Elements
• Drop-Front Box: No-Glue, Folded-Tab Style
• Drop-Front Box: Tabbed Style
• Storage and Transport of Inuit gut parkas
• Packing Rare Audio Content
• Interlocking Grid System
• Envelope Style String and Button Closure for Drop Front Boxes
• Creating a Custom Enclosure for Oversized Rolled Graphic Recordings
• Padded Insert for Pre-Columbian Tunic
• A Textile-Hanging System Composed of Readily Available Hardware Materials
• Supporting Old Bones, Storage Jackets for Oversize Dinosaur Bones
• Tyvek & Polyester Needle Felt Moccasins Inserts
• From Heel to Toe: The Costume Institute Shoe Rehousing Project
• Shank Support Mount for High Heeled Shoes
• Internal Support Mount for Shoes
• Making East Asian Scroll Storage Boxes
• The Elephantine in the Stacks: Oversize Storage for Flat Materials
• Backer Rod Foam Pot Rings
• Tri-Rod Foam Pot Rings
• Tyvek Covered Bean Bags
• Bumper Tray Inserts
• Bead Counter Inserts

Browse solutions that were presented at the following sessions:

• AIC STASH Flash V session, 2018
• Inaugural SPNHC STASH Flash session, 2017
• AIC STASH Flash IV session, 2017
• AIC STASH Flash III session, 2016
• AIC STASH Flash II session, 2015
• Inaugural AIC STASH Flash session, 2014