Viewable Storage Facility Project

We are pleased to share with our partners, members and donors that the construction of the museum’s new Viewable Storage Facility was completed last year and our state of the art facility was officially opened in December 2024. After five years of planning and with major funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New Jersey Historic Trust, our long-term plan to create a modern collections facility is now a reality. This $1.4 million capital project is a major step in our endeavor to improve our standards for collection conservation. The facility also offers visual access for the public to observe the conservation and care of the collection through a large viewing area, creating another opportunity for education at the museum.

The Collection
One of the most important functions of a museum is to be a good steward of its collection which is held in the public trust. These artifacts and archival holdings – what many people feel is the heart and soul of a museum – represent the collective history of a people or place. We use our collection to create exhibits that tell us stories about how our nation, our communities, and our cultures came to be; without museum collections, those stories could not be told. METC’s collection contains over 8,000 objects, textiles, archival materials, and other examples of the history of New Jersey’s early immigrants. This new space expands our capacity to preserve our collection and strengthen conservation efforts. It also provides a renewed focus on collections management, which harnesses all the museum’s resources and knowledge, paving the way for future digitization of the collection.

Background
For over 50 years, the bulk of the museum’s collection was housed in a secure area on the lower level of the historic James Library, which has been the museum’s home since 1970. Additional off-site storage locations contained some of the museum’s larger objects as well as those that were not often accessed for exhibits. As part of our 2015 long term strategic plan, METC began looking to expand its facility to accommodate increased engagement, and addressing the needs of the collection was a significant part of that plan. In 2019, the collection was severely compromised by a mold infestation which was swiftly addressed and remediated. But to save the collection from any further permanent damage, the museum fast tracked the long-range plan and moved ahead to safely house the entire collection in a modern, environmentally controlled area in the museum. The first stages of the project were funded by generous grants from the NJ Historic Trust, the NJ Historical Commission, the Madison Open Space, Recreation and Historic Preservation Trust, the Hyde & Watson Foundation, and the Charles L. Read Foundation. The comprehensive feasibility study, completed in 2021, created a design plan, construction documents, and identified the needed collection storage space for the next phase in the creation of this facility.

Breaking Ground
Working closely with Historic Building Architects, our long-time historic architectural consultants, METC contracted with the James O’Hara Company, a New Jersey construction firm with experience working in historic buildings. Also part of the team was Storage Systems USA, who fabricated and installed the high-density moveable storage system and Crozier Fine Art Handling who managed the rehousing of the collection.