Museum cries of limited storage

Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday March 1, 2016 14:54

 

The chief curator ethnology, Winani Kgwatalala, said this during the viewing of exhibits and collection at the National Museum last week. She was updating the director of the Ambassador’s fund for Cultural Preservation, Martin Perschler and the US ambassador to Botswana, Earl Miller. During the tour, Kgwatalala said some of the exhibits like leather products have to be stored in cool conditions. She said the leather objects have been vulnerable to mould and they had to be treated. Kgwatalala said when the objects are taken out for exhibition they have to be vacuumed first.

“Limitation of funds has prevented us from expanding the storage of our exhibits; even our leather products don’t have proper storage because they are affected by the mould. We also have wood artifacts and they are crowded in one place,” she said. 

For his part, the deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Felix Monggae, said in 2011 the Museum encountered power cuts, which caused failure of the air conditioning system in the ethnology collections’ storerooms. “This caused fluctuations of internal relative humidity and temperature and hence jeopardised the environmental climatic conditions necessary for the preservation of the leather collection,” he said. Monggae indicated that 487 leather artifacts became infested with mould. He said the attempt to carry out treatment of leather objects was unsuccessful due to financial challenges. Monggae said after a survey, the museum sought for financial support of P348,000 from the US Ambassador’s fund to save the collection. “Four hundred and eighty-seven leather artifacts have been successfully treated for mould and re-shelved in their designated storeroom,” he said.

When giving his remarks, the US ambassador thanked Perchler for taking out of his busy schedule to visit Botswana. He said the US is trying to do its part to support the arts in Botswana. “One major way is through the annual Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) grant competition,” he said.

Miller said since 2001 the US government has invested approximately US$250,000 in six different projects throughout Botswana through the AFCP, because they believe in the aesthetic and cultural importance of Botswana’s heritage. “I hope that our efforts under the AFCP will serve as a symbol not only of the partnership between our two countries especially in this important year,” he said.

The museum currently has more than 10,500 cultural objects colleted from various ethnic groups in Botswana as early as the 1960s. The collection is kept safe in museum storerooms as permanent collection under controlled micro-climatic conditions for purposes of preservation.