Museum Artifact Storage
The world’s biggest time capsule.
Every year, news reports detail instances of natural disasters, substandard storage conditions, fire, theft and vandalism. Much of the nation’s collection of art and artifacts rots in humid basements or hot warehouses, waiting for a pipe to burst. Entire collections of art, artifacts, and documents are lost or damaged.
Often, budget constraints force curators, registrars and directors to make very uncomfortable choices.
Underground Vaults & Storage can make sure a portion of your artifact collection is always safe and accessible, no matter what happens. For less cost than you may think.
To discuss your museum artifact storage needs, click here. For more information on our museum storage services, look below.
ADVANTAGES –– Offsite Museum Artifact Storage
- Protection from natural and manmade disaster
- Potential cost savings
- Ideal storage conditions
- Security from theft and prying eyes
- Easily customizable
SERVICES –– Off-Site Museum Artifact Storage
- Climate-Controlled Underground Storage
- Microfilm Storage
- Photograph and Moving Image Storage
- Same Day Retrieval
- Easy Customization
- Cataloguing Services
Our premiere salt mine storage facility is miles from any oceans, flood plains, hurricanes, earthquakes, military centers, terrorism targets, or civil unrest. It is buried 650 feet below tornados, high humidity, sweltering temperatures, wildfires, blizzards, conventional weapons, thieves and vandals –– within a 400 ft thick salt formation. Its’ natural underground atmosphere keeps your items cool and dry – 65°F-70°F, 35%-40% relative humidity, with no significant fluctuations. Additional climate controls and filtration are available. It’s called forever storage. History proves no place is 100% safe: Yet you won’t find any place safer.
Two limestone mine facilities offer drive-up dock access, and closer proximity to metropolitan areas.
With no exposed roof, walls or floors, access is severely limited and almost invisible. We use security measures including biometric scans, redundant security systems, videocameras, anonymous box identification, background checks, airtight confidentiality procedures, bank vault doors and more.
Barcoding and inventory technology ensure constant tracking. We have more than 45 years of procedures and experience securing materials for thousands of clients, large and small.
Climate-controlled microfilm vaults are specially designed for historic acetate, polyester, silver and diazo-based microfilms. We also have two specialized preservation vaults: One limited to brown toned microfilm, the other limited to silver microfilm.
We can scan and digitally transmit images to you, or print and deliver them to you, without removing originals from storage. We also coordinate specialized services for preservation, restoration and duplication.
Our unique climate, geographic separation from disaster, and lower storage cost have earned us a Hollywood reputation as an ideal destination for film elements, sound recordings, videotapes, magnetic media, and even props.
We can also store original photographic negatives, positives, prints, Daguerreotypes, tintypes, glass negatives, salt prints, and slides.
We offer same day retrievals, same day shipping, and an experienced climate-controlled transportation fleet.
Easy Customization
From 15,000 sq ft private rooms to 100 sq ft vaults, private vaults to shared vaults, we can meet your need. We offer choices of wall construction, climate control, refrigeration, air filtration, racking and drawer style, lighting, climate monitoring, video surveillance, limited authorized access, and a host of other features for artifact storage.
Cataloging Services
We can inventory the artifacts you place in storage, help organize and catalog them, for a very reasonable hourly or per-item fee.