Page 5 - Annual Report FINAL

SOCIETY SET FOR BIGGEST MOVE EVER

SAPF reduces risk, launches

new era in collecting

ou couldn’t blame Matt Blessing for counting
Y boxes in his sleep this year.
In late November, the state archivist and director
of the Society’s Library, Archives & Museum
Collections will receive the keys to the new
$46.7 million State Archive Preservation Facility
(SAPF) and its more than 20 total miles of shelving,
officially launching what will be the largest transfer
of materials in the Society’s 171-year history.
“In 1900, we moved from the State Capitol
down to this (headquarters) building, but the scale
of the collections was much, much smaller,” said
Blessing, whose staff has long been preparing to
make the move, which will take 15 months and fill The new State Archive Preservation Facility features five temperature and humidity-controlled
about 15 miles of the shelving with material from climate zones, protecting some of Wisconsin’s most important historical and cultural resources.
the Society’s collection.
Other parts of the facility — located on “There are fewer than a dozen preservation
Madison’s Near East Side, nearly 3 miles from MATT BLESSING, Society Director of
Society headquarters — will be used by the facilities like the SAPF in the nation.” Library, Archives & Museum Collections
Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
“Preparations began in 2008,” Blessing said, “and have to be stored in rented, off-site locations. access to materials. The public can request materials
we bar-coded more than 450,000” items. In addition, the delicate collections faced a critical online, and multiple deliveries will be made to the
The 188,000-square-foot building has been threat from environmental damage, a risk that will headquarters each day. Blessing added that
desperately needed by the Society, which boasts be eliminated by the new facility, which features 80 percent of the library and 60 percent of the
one of the largest and most valuable collections essential state-of-the-art temperature and humidity archives collections will remain at the headquarters.
in North America. On average, the Society controls. “There are fewer than a dozen preservation “The headquarters building is one of the best
annually acquires more than 1,500 boxes of private facilities like the SAPF in the nation,” Blessing said. places in the country” to conduct historical
manuscripts, and state and local government “That’s a good indicator of the state leadership’s research, Blessing said, citing the 2010 restoration
records of historical value, Blessing said. commitment to our cultural heritage.” of the library reading room. “One of the state’s
Problem is, the headquarters has reached storage While the facility won’t be a public space, it will most important financial and cultural assets are the
capacity, which has meant many important items serve the public in a significant way, allowing easier collections of the Historical Society.”

SOCIETY HIGHLIGHTS | LIBRARY, ARCHIVES & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS ANNUAL REPORT 5