For the first time ever at the North Carolina Museum of Art, all four volumes of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America are currently on view.

Believe me, this has been a long time coming. From the transfer of the portfolios from the State Library to the Museum in 1974 to the five-year conservation and restoration program of 2002–2007, this migration has been worthy of a National Geographic documentary.

In the past the Museum has had the ability to show only one volume at a time, in a single case, because of a variety of physical, spatial, and conservation–related restrictions.

The Restrictions

1. Size of the books: really big. Each page is 40 by 26 inches. Not for nothing are they known as the Double Elephant Folios.

2. Size of the case: again, really big—73 inches long x 53 inches deep x 40 inches tall, including the protective glass hood.

3. Limited viewing. Only one page in one volume could be displayed at a time because of light restrictions.

4. Turning the pages—once each quarter—required:

• 8 people from 3 departments.
• 8 suction cups used by 4 strong people to remove the protective glass hood.
• Constant repair of the protective glass hood due to seam breakage during each opening.
• Extreme difficulty in closing the case due to a less-than-precise closure mechanism.

5. Size of the room: tiny. Less than 100 square feet—and it was really just a passageway between contemporary art galleries. In sum, there was no real gallery for the birds to roost in.

The Solutions

1. A dedicated gallery! The new 700-square-foot space allows all four volumes to be shown simultaneously. There are new in-gallery education panels and a reading area, and we can control light levels because the space is not a passageway.

2. New cases—four of them!—one for each volume. They’re each the same size as the old Audubon case, but with greatly improved construction. Pneumatic lifts allow art handlers to open the glass hoods with the greatest of ease (no more suction cups). Pullout decks give greater physical access to the books for safe page turning. And the cases close with a one-handed gentle mechanism and a self-locking system.

That’s right. Thanks to modern technology, what used to take eight people now takes only two or three. Our new cases, made by Glasbau Hahn of Germany, are the crème de la crème of museum casework and a capital investment that will last a lifetime. Unlock with a key, lift open the hood, pull out the deck, turn the page, add a new label, and close the case. It’s that easy. It now takes more time to coordinate the three people with a key than to get access to the book. Our work is more efficient, and the Museum can show more birds than ever before.

One word of caution for visitors to Audubon: you’re being watched. The new gallery is under surveillance by a few feathered friends on loan from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, so be warned—unless you foresee an Alfred Hitchcock moment in your future, please don’t touch the birds.

Golden Boy on his old plexiglass mount, with garish turquoise casework.

The Great Team:
1 Exhibit Designer
1 Mount Maker
1 Conservation Tech/Seamstress
1 Curator (who has actually been to Egypt)

Objective: A once in a lifetime chance to create a safe and stylish new home for a precious artifact that is beloved by the visitors of the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Solution: Create a mummy for the missing mummy.

That’s right. The solution is to re-create a body form that would replicate the missing mummy that these wonderful objects were originally attached to. It’s a fabulous idea, but believe me it’s no small task! This approach is new for us and the mounting system will aid in communicating how these objects were used in real life without additional explanation. You get it right away. This was a real person, a real body; we don’t have to tell you in a label because you can see it for yourself.

Please note that this will not look like a fake mummy—no wrapped bandages and no fake body parts—as the body form will serve as the primary support system or mount as it did in ancient Egypt and with a style befitting the Golden Boy himself.

As for that turquoise color scheme…well it’s been banished for eternity!

Golden Boy’s new home, in the new Egyptian Gallery, is almost as grand as the place he’s from. Stay tuned to see the transformation happen!

As we begin our migration into the new building the museum has been creating a number of orphans. Much of our case work that houses the Museum’s extensive objects collection is several decades old and is being updated, refurbished, and restyled for the beautiful new gallery environments. But out of an entire museum filled with cases this also means that somebody gets left behind.

The poor lonely things would be wasting away in our warehouse collecting dust, and there is nothing wrong with them except that they might be too big or small or we can’t re-tool them for a new use or new objects. So, we started an adoption program.

If we were to write a classified ad, it would read something like this:

Available for Adoption: Museum Quality Cases. Sound base structures and kick plates. No body dings, dents or fractures. Smooth surfaces ready for repainting. Expensive plastic vitrines/hoods unscratched with sound corners and seams. Leveling feet un-broken and ready for use.

Many of our orphans have found fabulous new homes in other state buildings, state museums, and the many historic sites around North Carolina. They have plenty of miles left on them and are now cherished by their new owners, and we are happy to oblige.

(Photos are from an exhibit developed by the Dept. of Cultural Resources at Aycock Birthplace with ECU students; the Governor Morehead School provided the artifacts. The NCMA provided the case work. )