Building a Sustainable Future
Oscar Gustav Rejlander (English, b. Sweden, 1813–1875), Girl holding dove, ca. 1860. Albumen silver print. George Eastman Museum, purchase, 1952.
Eadweard J. Muybridge (English, 1830–1904), Bradley & Rulofson, Ancient Glacier Channel. Lake Tenaya. Sierra Nevada Mountains., 1872. Albumen silver print. George Eastman Museum, gift of Harvard University, 1961.
Carmela G. Iuorno (American, 1905–1988), Jacqueline Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy in Ravello, Italy (snapshot), August 1962. Chromogenic development print. George Eastman Museum, gift of Mike Falcone, 2024.
William Christenberry (American, 1936–2016), Red Building in Forest, Hale County, Alabama, 1983. Chromogenic development print, printed 1985. George Eastman Museum, purchase with funds from the Lila Acheson Wallace Foundation, 1985.
As a leader in the preservation and conservation of photography and moving image artifacts, the Eastman Museum staff needs to maintain suitable conditions for the storage and display of the collection objects. The staff also seek to better understand the environmental and climate costs of our work. What might the impacts of the institution’s energy consumption or waste creation have on local, national, and global communities? How can staff at the museum mitigate these costs through the creation of stronger building envelopes, more efficient heating and cooling systems, or with simple changes to our lighting systems? How can these actions help drive change in how photography and moving image collections are preserved and accessed, while also demonstrating our commitment to the long-term care of our collections?
Take a peek behind the scenes and explore the ways in which museum staff work to balance preservation and access with implementing climate-aware and environmentally sustainable solutions. Learn about the history of how the mansion moved from a space for collection storage and display to a historic home and landscape, requiring careful attention to improve the building envelope. Explore how an upgraded HVAC system changed the climate in the technology and photography vaults to elongate the life of these collections. Find out about the museum’s unique building that stores nitrate materials, and why it was recently expanded. See firsthand how small changes in gallery lighting affect a visitor’s experience as well as the museum’s energy consumption. This object-based display highlights recent projects that the museum has undertaken that attend to these concerns. Curated by Jamie M. Allen, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Curator and Head, Department of Photography
This project was funded in part by the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative (FCI) of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. FCI is the first nationwide program to support energy efficiency and clean energy use for the visual arts and the largest private national grantmaking program of its kind for cultural institutions.
Acknowledgements
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Park Service Save America's Treasures Program
New York State Council on the Arts
NYS Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)
The Davenport-Hatch Foundation
ESL Charitable Foundation
Helen Frankenthaler Foundation
William & Sheila Konar Foundation
Louis B. Mayer Foundation
Pace Family Fund of the Rochester Area Community Foundation
The Packard Humanities Institute
Rochester Area Community Foundation, Vitality Grant in Historic Preservation
Elaine P. and Richard U. Wilson Foundation
Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley
Bruce Bates
H. C. Digby Clements
Ronald H. Fielding and Susan Lobell
Kenneth A. Frederick, the Frederick Family Fund of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation
Georgia Gosnell
Eastman Museum Council
