MuseumS
Museums often share experience, expertise, and resources:
American Museum of Natural History-Light, UV, IR
The Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute has amazing preservation resources. For example, Marion Mecklenburg, Sr. Research Scientist, has conducted extensive research and published invaluable studies. Available on-line, two publications by Dr. Mecklenburg “Determining the Acceptable Ranges of Relative Humidity and Temperature in Museums and Galleries, Part 1 & 2, Structural Response to Humidity & Temperature.” https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/7056 are a good place to start with many more of interest available.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Conservation and Scientific Research
Museums Galleries Scotland information sheet on air pollution with detail on risks introduced by particulate matter.
Caring for Your Possessions
A nice resource with important information on caring for your personal collections of glass, fabrics, drawings, and more by the Victoria & Albert Museum.
NON PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
The Northeast Document Conservation Center is the first independent conservation laboratory in the United States to specialize exclusively in the conservation and preservation of paper- and film-based collections.
The Getty Conservation Institute provides a wide range of publications and interesting project case studies.
Indoor Chem is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program for Chemistry of Indoor Environments.
Government Resources
Government agencies can be an excellent source of information:
National Park Service excellent museum handbook:
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
A wealth of resources developed by the Canadian government:
Canadian Conservation Institute
The International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property ICCROM. For example, a good reference publication on risk management: A Guide to Risk Management of Cultural Heritage.
Universities
Berkeley Lab Indoor Air Quality Scientific Findings Resource Bank
A fascinating collaboration Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Cell phone apps
Angstrom Metrology Lux Meter
Historic Structures
A few resources for historic building preservation, maintenance, conservation, and renovation.
Preservation Mass, Preservation Action Center
National Park Service, Preservation Briefs
Whole Building Design Guide, Operations and Maintenance for Historic Structures
Tools
Hand held instruments:
A hand-held temperature & relative humidity meter can be useful to profile micro-climates and spot check inside cabinets, closets, and areas for possible detailed study. One example below:
Solution Extensions
Data can be downloaded from dashboard widgets or individual module sensors for further analysis. The products listed below are examples and other market or open source solutions may be of interest.
Data Visualization & Analysis: Excel,QLIK, Highcharts, Datawrapper, Plotly, RAWGraphs, SandDance (there are of course many more)
Applied Math for Science: Scilab is a very rich resource of free and open source software for engineers & scientists.
mathematics
optimization
statistics
signal and image processing
control systems