​After a disastrous fire of the original motherhouse in Milwaukee’s Burnham Park neighborhood, the School Sisters of St. Francis rebuilt their motherhouse, St. Joseph Convent in 1891.   Over the years, more handsome buildings were added to the campus, including the magnificent Italian Romanesque Revival St. Joseph Chapel completed in 1917 and the Sacred Heart retirement home was renovated more recently. Since its founding, the SSSF have preserved Archives for study by the religious community, relatives of the sisters, and for scholars and members of the public. The rich trove contains works published by members of the SSSF community, reference materials, historical documents, textiles, objects, and more.  Eva Stefanski, archivist for SSSF recently discussed the diverse collection and her ongoing work to preserve it.

​What is the focus of the collection you oversee?
The School Sisters of St. Francis have a long and rich history lasting almost 150 years. The worldwide membership of the community marked its peak of 4,140 members in 1965, and today, with roughly 640 sisters and 170 lay associates worldwide, the congregation continues to serve in North America, Central and South America, Germany, Switzerland, India and Tanzania.  The Archives focuses is on preserving materials that chronicle that history along with documents and artifacts that demonstrate the mission, charism, and administration of the community today. We preserve the materials to aid in the congregation’s current planning and decision making as well as to illustrate the history of the community and enable genealogical and historical research.

​Who is your audience and how does your collection interest them?
Our audience is more varied than one might initially think. While many of our patrons are the Sisters themselves, we get many other types of requests. People often don’t realize that the Sisters lead accomplished professional lives just as lay people do. We are contacted about books they have written, music they have composed and recorded, and art they have created.  Additionally, the Motherhouse, the chapel and the surrounding buildings are a historic landmark, so we get many questions about the history of the buildings and grounds as well as the architecture. Also, many requests come for more information about the history of different missions all over the country. The history of the Sisters is deeply embedded in the history of many other parishes, schools, hospitals and communities. Finally, we support frequent genealogy requests. Many lay people with ancestors who belonged to religious congregations want to understand the lives and accomplishments of these women.

​What has been the biggest challenge concerning the collection?
While working with an international collection is exciting, it’s also challenging. The foreign provinces such as Germany and Honduras have their own archival material in addition to what we have in our collection. Visibility across collections is low, so it can be hard to know where gaps exist and how all of the materials fit together to tell the larger story. Until we are fully able to increase access through digitization, the only way to get the full impact of the scope of our collection is to travel to all of the collecting sites. 

​How do you safely display and/or store high-risk pieces from the collection?
In Archival work, it is all about what we call “archival housing”. This term refers to the products and materials we use to store and maintain pieces in the collection. Archival housing is not just for rare and fragile items – it ensures the longevity of even simple business documents through the use of things like acid-free folders and boxes. Disaster planning is also critical. Finding the best locations to store collections includes understanding the risks around the potential for things like leaky pipes and mold and having a process that enables you to act quickly if risk becomes reality.

What advice do you have for collectors who are just getting started?
My advice for collectors is less about collecting and more about preservation. As an archivist, one of my primary concerns is how to ensure the longevity of the collection under my care. This should be a concern of any collector. Take time to understand the materials that compose what you are collecting and learn about the best conditions for storage and display such as how much light, humidity, and heat are appropriate. Consider not collecting a piece if you are not equipped to care for it or donating a piece to an institution that has the means to ensure its care. Decide early if you want your collection to outlive you and take measures along the way to ensure it will last for many years to come.
 
 ~Eva Stefanski, Archivist for School Sisters of St. Francis, October 2020
 
Editor’s note: Prior to the pandemic, I had the opportunity to tour the campus with archivist Eva Stefanski and Alfons Gallery director Valerie Christell. The historic buildings are filled with beautiful architectural details and fine art made and collected by the sisters.  Since all buildings are closed to visitors for safety reasons, explore the SSSF website to learn more about their leadership in the arts and view their video tour of St. Joseph Chapel.

​MIAD (Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design), located in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward, is Wisconsin’s only four-year, private college of visual art and design. Founded in 1974, it is the successor to the venerated Layton School of Art. MIAD is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of 42 leading art schools in the United States and Canada.  MIAD currently serves 866 full-time students, 600 pre-college students, and 250 students in outreach and special programs.

MIAD has two nationally recognized museum galleries on campus, The Brook Stevens Gallery and the Layton Gallery. We recently had the opportunity to speak with MIAD’s gallery director Mark Lawson and gallery manager Steven Anderson about the unique opportunities and challenges offered by the collections they oversee. These include The Layton Collection, the MIAD Collection, the Guido Brink Collection and three Design Collections.
 
What is the focus of the collection you oversee?
Mark Lawson:  It is really several collections.  The mostly fine art components of the collection can be essentially broken down into three segments. The Layton Collection came from the Layton School of Art which was active until 1974 and eventually evolved into MIAD. The MIAD Collection is everything from 1974 onward and the Guido Brink Collection.  

​Part of our holdings include three design collections, the Keyes Camera Collection which has about 300 mostly novelty cameras, all cataloged, the Grassl Collection which contains many 1000’s of vintage ads from magazines and is only 10% catalogued, and the Product Design Collection which has about 500 objects ranging from refrigerators to lawn care tools, to radios and boat motors.  The entire Product Design Collection has been catalogued.

​Who is your audience and how does your collection interest them?
Mark Lawson:  Our audience for the different portions of the collection varies somewhat.  Our MIAD college community of students, faculty, staff and alumni are our primary audience for much of the collection.  One of the primary purposes for the Product Design Collection is to create exhibits about this genre.  As such it has been seen by the general public both at MIAD and at other venues to which we’ve loaned various items. 

​What has been the biggest challenge concerning the collections?
Steven Anderson:  Keeping the ever-evolving inventory of the art and design collection items up to date, with images, and maintaining proper storage without a registrar. However, a newly renovated collections storage space, the acquisition of collections registration software, and an intern to help re-catalog the collection as it moves to its new home, will all help to solve these challenges.

Mark Lawson:  As college gallery operation, our primary mission is to orchestrate exhibitions for our galleries.  As such, we do not have designated staffing, such as a registrar, to deal largely with collection issues.  This being the case, all of our work in cataloging and care for the collection has been done when we had the time and budget to address these issues. It has only been recently that this situation has improved and been supported with added budget and attention by the college.
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How do you safely display and/or store high-risk pieces from the collection?
Steven Anderson:  In terms of display, we no longer use wire to hang artwork because we have experienced a weakening and even breakage over time. Generally, we use two “D rings” and either two corresponding wall hangers or security mount brackets. If the artwork allows for it, cleats are also a great way to hang heavy objects. Most valuable items are displayed in offices, conference rooms and highly visible public areas. Sculpture and design objects are placed under an acrylic vitrine unless the object is too large, such as a refrigerator, stove or car. Stanchions are then the best option and are often used in our gallery exhibits.  Sometimes signage is needed to help inform the viewer of challenging, disturbing or even potential hazards concerning the artwork or objects being displayed.

Our renovated Collections Storage and Presentation Space allows for archival storage and a new exhibit area which will be available and visible to the MIAD community and general public. We will be using powder coated industrial shelving, rolling painting racks, flat files and a variety of archival materials to aid in protecting design objects, sculpture and 2d art. We often use polypropylene coroplast sheets, ethafoam, buffered and un-buffered paper, Tyvek, natural cotton or linen fabric, acid-free mat board and foam core among many other materials depending on the need. The new space is also equipped with its own independent environmental HVAC system to control the temperature and humidity. There are many sources of information online regarding best practices for storage, handling and display. We often refer to PACCIN (Preparation, Art handling, and Collections Care Information Network) if we are unsure of something or we reach out to others in the local museum community.

​What advice do you have for collectors who are just getting started?
Mark Lawson:  Stamps are easier.  Seriously, collect what you love when it comes to art.  This may not be the most profitable way to collect, but it’s the most satisfying.  Keep good records of when you buy things and from whom, and as much as you can gather about the artist or designer. It is a given that you’ll forget much of this as the years pass.  All collections are more valuable and comprehensive when you have this information along with the artifacts.