BEHIND THE SCENES PANAMA CANAL MUSEUM COLLECTION

Where is the collection stored? How large is the collection and is it growing? How can researchers find and see these items? Are the objects on display permanently? How long before donated items are scanned and put online? How many people work on the collection? Gifts: The Panama Canal Museum Collection (PCMC) at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries is growing constantly, thanks to donors from all over the world. Our Collection Committee reviews all potential “in kind” donations (gifts of materials, rather than money) in adherence with our Collection Development Policy. Once the Committee accepts an object, we sign a gift agreement with the donor and officially add the item to the PCMC in a process known as accessioning. At this point, UF commits to preserve and provide access to the item indefinitely. Between March 2018 and February 2019, over 40 donors contributed more than 2,500 items including family letters, post cards, photographs, scrapbooks, and video recordings. Processing: It takes a small army to manage the collection. Librarians manage maps, books, periodicals, and government documents. Archivists manage letters, photos, artifacts, and other unique or rare materials. We have conservation and digitization experts and labs. Members of our PCMC Friends group provide invaluable guidance and contextual information about objects. We rely greatly on student assistants, particularly Museum Studies graduate students, who process new gifts and work on the physical arrangement and description of materials in the PCMC. Processing includes identifying, sorting, cataloging, and re-housing materials in archival containers.

Students process panoramic photos (left) and scrapbooks and photo albums (right)

Gift of family letters and photos, 2019

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Preservation & Storage: The collection is stored in multiple temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms in the Smathers Library Building at UF and in a library facility off the main campus. During processing, we sort and store objects by material and format. Photos are stored with photos; maps are stored with maps; metal artifacts are stored with other metal artifacts, and so on. We also sort by subject and by size. Items are placed in archival folders, boxes, and other containers appropriate for preservation. We maintain an inventory that includes the physical location of more than 20,000 objects in the PCMC.

Viewing the Collection: Visitors can browse the books, periodicals, and maps in the collection, but the unique and rare materials are stored in spaces that are not accessible to the public in order to ensure the long-term preservation and security of the objects. This means that the majority of the collection is not on display and researchers have to request access to these materials. Researchers and students examine materials in our Grand Reading Room or other reading rooms in the Smathers Library. We have annual exhibits of selected objects in the Albert H. Nahmad Panama Canal Gallery in the Smathers Library and at the Panama Canal Society Reunion. We regularly post images of objects on the PCMC blog and in online exhibits on our website (http://uflib.ufl.edu/pcmc). We have digitized almost 300,000 pages or items. Rarely do we digitize materials as soon as we acquire them. Scanned images are freely available online in the Panama and the Canal digital collection (http://ufdc.ufl.edu/pcm).

Archival storage containers including boxes and flat files

Installing a Gallery exhibit (left) and researchers in the Grand Reading Room (center and right)