Standard mount sizes

I am a recent graduate conservator presently working for
Middlesbrough Art Gallery. The gallery is undergoing a period of
development as a new building is being constructed in the town
centre. As a result, over the next few years, the Fine Art
Collection is being surveyed and conserved. Many of the works on
paper need remounting and we are using this opportunity to adopt a
system of standard size mounts and Solander boxes for storage. At
present there are around 800 works on paper in the collection, but
hopefully this will begin to slowly expand. Obviously decisions we
make regarding the size of mounts and thus Solander boxes will have
implications on our choice of storage shelves. The use of standard
sizes seems to makes sense in terms of the ability to store works on
paper safely together.

However, I am interested in learning people's opinions and
experiences of the use of standard mount sizes as we are trying to
think through all the ramifications of this decision before we start
designing the storage facilities in the new gallery, buying
materials etc. There seem to be three options; defining our own set
of standard sizes and having boxes custom made (which may not make
economic sense); using the Atlas, Imperial and Royal system; or
using the metric A1, A2, A3, A4 size system. There would also have
to be an additional 'oversize' category for any system selected. Has
anybody experienced any advantages / disadvantages to any of these
size systems? Is there anything that we should be taking into
consideration? Has anybody ever experienced difficulty in obtaining
mount board or shelves to fit to these sizes?

This is one of the many situations in conservation where experience
of working with a system and hindsight can help, so any opinions or
experiences that people are willing to share would be greatly
appreciated.

Kirsten Elliott
Conservator, Works on Paper
Middlesbrough Art Gallery


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:12
                 Distributed: Wednesday, July 16, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-12-005
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