No Toying Around Here!
Last month, the Collections Team set aside two whole weeks to update the Stewart Gallery of Historic Miniatures - an exhibit full of thousands of toy soldiers! Necessary adjustments to our lighting and casework in this gallery led to a full-scale improvement to the display of each individual miniature figure.
You might be asking, what does that mean?
Well, while our trusty building manager and exhibits & design manager slid behind glass doors and rewired every section of shelving, the rest of the team secured individual sets of toy soldiers to pieces of plexi-glass using museum wax. This means that any time we need to remove or replace a set of miniatures in the display shelves, we can simply slide out the piece of plexi glass instead of having to remove each individual figurine directly from the shelf. Cheers to no more wax residue!
Collections Manager Tish Boyer in the Stewart Gallery of Historic Miniatures during installation updates. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Rows of toy soldiers ready for installation! Credit: Frazier History Museum.
The process was tedious, to say the least, because we often had to remove old wax from each figure before staging the set on its piece of plexi and fastening down with new wax. Not to mention, we had to keep all the soldiers perfectly in place!
To give you an idea of what this was like, here are pictures of me placing a French sailor marching in the scene of Napoleon’s funeral procession. If you’re wondering why I’m not wearing gloves, it’s because we need the heat and friction of human skin to activate the little balls of wax we attach to the bottom of each figurine. Often, we would use a bamboo stick (pictured below, right) to help press the base of individual soldiers into place.
Manager of Collection Impact Hayley Rankin securing the set of Napoleon’s funeral procession to its piece of plexi. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Napoleon funeral procession set before gallery installation. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Not only did this project result in a consistent display method for each section of the gallery, but will make work for our future selves much easier and efficient when the time comes to switch out the sets of miniatures we want to feature! From battle scenes and royal processions to classic Disney characters and the beloved animals of Beatrix Potter, the Stewart Collection of Historic Miniatures has something interesting or enjoyable for everyone.
Collections Manager Tish Boyer installing a set into the West gallery wall. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Come visit the Stewart Gallery on our second floor to see the amazing results of our hard work!
-Hayley Rankin, Manager of Collection Impact
Manager of Collection Impact Hayley Rankin with set of football players ready for installation. Credit: Frazier History Museum.
Installation, complete! Credit: Frazier History Museum.
