Glass Flowers Repair Program Delayed

Harvard's Glass Flowers, one of the world's most treasured glass collections, continue to deteriorate four years after a report suggested major changes to preserve the collection.

Preservation efforts have been delayed in part because of "politics and business as usual" in a museum divided among four directors, Flowers administrator Susan Rossi-Wilcox said.

"The Glass Flowers are the Sistine Chapel of the glass world and they deserve to receive attention," she said.

The Flowers are part of Harvard's Botanical Museum, one of four separate museums housed in the Museum of Cultural and Natural History.

But the museums are currently taking steps toward a partial merger, which could lead to action on the Flowers exhibit, administrators said.

More than 100 of the 845 scientifically accurate species in the Flowers collection are at least partially broken, Rossi-Wilcox said. "Glass disease" plagues 60 models, producing white spots on the glass, she added.

She said the exhibit needs minor repairs numbering "in the thousands."

The cards for the exhibit were written in the 1920s and '50s and are not useful for the lay visitor, Rossi-Wilcox said.

A January 1991 report by Harvard's Center for Conservation and Technical Studies recommended that the Botanical Museum improve its climate-control system and reduce lighting and vibrations in order to preserve the glass.

Such changes could only be made by moving the Flowers from their current location.

"Everyone agrees it would be good for their conservation if they were moved to a different location," said Andrew H. Knoll, director of the Botanical Museum and chair of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. "There's no question the collection is in need of conservation."

The Flowers are now located in two rooms in the center of visitor traffic flow for the Museum of Cultural and Natural History, which draws about 125,000 people each year.

People from around the world come to see the Flowers, including the spouses of many visiting dignitaries, Knoll said.

But visitors also include schoolchildren on field trips to other parts of the museum who must pass by the collection because of the layout.

"There are times when we have over 100 kids moving around the cases and they all want to touch them," Rossi-Wilcox said.

"They should be in a quieter space that's easier to control," said Gabrielle H. Whitehouse, director of public programs for the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Despite the consensus that the flowers should be moved, directors have yet to agree on a space for them.

"For four years now it's been on the table as the most pressing issue," Rossi-Wilcox said.

Such a move would require swapping space between the Botanical Museum, which owns the flowers, and one of the other branches of the Museum of Cultural and Natural History.

The other branches--Comparative Zoology, Peabody and Mineralogical & Geological--each have their own directors.

The administrative division between the four museums has delayed action to save the Flowers, museum administrators said.

Decisions about museum space are made collectively by the four directors, each of whom chairs an academic department or holds other major responsibilities in the Faculty. None of the directors are professional museum administrators.

Each director is reluctant to relinquish space, which they consider a capital commodity of their academic departments, according to Carl A. Francis, associate curator of the Mineralogical Museum.

"They're four academic directors with a lot of other things on their plates so the wheels turn very slowly," Whitehouse said. "From the public view we're one museum but administratively we're four."

The museums, which for 120 years have operated as separate entities, are now undergoing a partial merger. They plan to unite their public aspects under one executive director early next year, according to Dorothy M. Lewis, who is overseeing the director search. Lewis is assistant dean for finance in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

"Once the director is there we'll have a good format to think about relocating the Flowers," said Jay L. Taft, director of administration for the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Decisions about the Flowers have essentially been put on hold until the director is hired.

"Our first objective is to put the museums together, then focus on museum initiatives," Knoll said. "No one's been resisting a move. It would be unfair to the future director fours to enact a decision that might require major fundraising."

The cost of moving and restoring the glass and installing a more advanced climate control system is estimated at $3 million, Rossi-Wilcox said.

"The Glass Flowers need such a specific environment that it would be very expensive," she said. "This is not just a small problem that gets fixed with band-aids and glue.

A January 1991 report by Harvard's Center for Conservation and Technical Studies recommended that the Botanical Museum improve its climate-control system and reduce lighting and vibrations in order to preserve the glass.

Such changes could only be made by moving the Flowers from their current location.

"Everyone agrees it would be good for their conservation if they were moved to a different location," said Andrew H. Knoll, director of the Botanical Museum and chair of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. "There's no question the collection is in need of conservation."

The Flowers are now located in two rooms in the center of visitor traffic flow for the Museum of Cultural and Natural History, which draws about 125,000 people each year.

People from around the world come to see the Flowers, including the spouses of many visiting dignitaries, Knoll said.

But visitors also include schoolchildren on field trips to other parts of the museum who must pass by the collection because of the layout.

"There are times when we have over 100 kids moving around the cases and they all want to touch them," Rossi-Wilcox said.

"They should be in a quieter space that's easier to control," said Gabrielle H. Whitehouse, director of public programs for the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Despite the consensus that the flowers should be moved, directors have yet to agree on a space for them.

"For four years now it's been on the table as the most pressing issue," Rossi-Wilcox said.

Such a move would require swapping space between the Botanical Museum, which owns the flowers, and one of the other branches of the Museum of Cultural and Natural History.

The other branches--Comparative Zoology, Peabody and Mineralogical & Geological--each have their own directors.

The administrative division between the four museums has delayed action to save the Flowers, museum administrators said.

Decisions about museum space are made collectively by the four directors, each of whom chairs an academic department or holds other major responsibilities in the Faculty. None of the directors are professional museum administrators.

Each director is reluctant to relinquish space, which they consider a capital commodity of their academic departments, according to Carl A. Francis, associate curator of the Mineralogical Museum.

"They're four academic directors with a lot of other things on their plates so the wheels turn very slowly," Whitehouse said. "From the public view we're one museum but administratively we're four."

The museums, which for 120 years have operated as separate entities, are now undergoing a partial merger. They plan to unite their public aspects under one executive director early next year, according to Dorothy M. Lewis, who is overseeing the director search. Lewis is assistant dean for finance in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

"Once the director is there we'll have a good format to think about relocating the Flowers," said Jay L. Taft, director of administration for the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Decisions about the Flowers have essentially been put on hold until the director is hired.

"Our first objective is to put the museums together, then focus on museum initiatives," Knoll said. "No one's been resisting a move. It would be unfair to the future director fours to enact a decision that might require major fundraising."

The cost of moving and restoring the glass and installing a more advanced climate control system is estimated at $3 million, Rossi-Wilcox said.

"The Glass Flowers need such a specific environment that it would be very expensive," she said. "This is not just a small problem that gets fixed with band-aids and glue.