Loan moratorium

Craigen Bowen <craigen_bowen [at] harvard__edu> writes

>The Harvard University Art Museums are preparing to renovate the
>Fogg Art Museum and we have had a loan moratorium in place for the
>period during which we expected to be moving.  However, because the
>renovation dates keep shifting the moratorium dates keep shifting as
>well, which is awkward for borrowers.  I would be grateful to hear
>from any of you who have moved or undergone construction that
>disrupted normal operation ...

While there has been an institutional effort to maintain "normalcy"
to the best extent possible, we did impose a loan moratorium. This
included time before the actual move when we were inventorying and
packing, and time after the move, for settling into our new storage
facility as well as consolidating our off-site storage areas.
Indeed, we cut our loans by approximately 40% during this, roughly,
two year-long period (and we are currently, technically, still in
the moratorium). Because the dates for renovation, reinstallation
and re-opening of the first phase of our renovation project have
"shifted", and the second phase has also been delayed, the subject
of extending the loan moratorium came up. We decided against this,
however, because of the issue you cited, namely, that it's difficult
for the institutions that want to borrow our objects. We felt that
it would be better if we agreed instead, to endeavor to minimize
loans during this extended period, only agreeing to the most
important of them. If you were to talk with our registrar, she
would, undoubtedly say that we have not been very successful in this
endeavor.

Patricia Sherwin Garland
Senior Conservator of Paintings
Yale University Art Gallery
PO Box 208271
New Haven CT 06520-8271
203-432-8241
Fax: 203-432-9369


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:71
                   Distributed: Friday, May 28, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-17-71-003
                                  ***