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Old 02-03-2018, 05:01 PM
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pterodactyl pterodactyl is offline
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Join Date: May 2007
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Bob-

Great question which I hope also gets asked at NARCON so you can hear the response from Amy Heidrick who is the Director of Collections at MOF. This represents my best guess based on watching the MOF for a couple of decades.

The Museum has final authority over the National Collection, but NAR does have a voice which is heard on a steering commitee consisting of representatives of both organizations.

Here's the steps that will likely take place before any restoration work takes place on any part of the collection.


1. Finalize cataloging of Stine, Estes, and Piester collections. This will be a multi year effort and is the emphasis of the "Pay Forward" fund raising campaign by NAR.

This step includes stabilization and archival storage of artifacts. The "maxi Aerobee" will soon get an upgrade in that regard.

2. Develop an exhibit plan for updating NAR's "Inspiring Rockets" exhibit (MOF Exhibit Dept and NAR committee task). The exhibit plan will determine items are scheduled for Step 3 work.

3. Perform expert restoration work for relevant artifacts scheduled for upcoming exhibit in accordance with Smithsonian Best Practices. (This isn't obvious until you think about it. Museums including NASM don't fully restore items that aren't going on exhibit. They also don't make repairs to historic artifacts that sustained damage in service. Therefore the inflight damage to Bob Biedron's Ariane during the WSMC remains unrepaired)

It's tough to give a timescale on this sequence of tasks. There are lots of variables as you can imagine, not all of which are in NAR control.

Pat
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National Collection Images: G. Harry Stine Collection/The Museum of Flight.
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