Museum Textile Services
  • About MTS
    • Our Team
    • Client List
    • Press Room
  • Conservation
    • Architectural Interiors
    • Asian Art
    • Ethnographic Textiles
    • Flags & Banners
    • Historic Clothing
    • Quilts and Coverlets
    • Samplers & Embroideries
    • Sports Memorabilia
    • Tapestries
  • Collections Care
    • Vac & Pack
    • Surveys
    • Disaster Response
  • Fumigation
    • Fumigation FAQs
  • Education
    • LL
    • Porto
    • C3
    • HPRH
    • Becoming a Textile Conservator
  • Resources
    • MTS Magazine
    • Textile Conservation Basics
    • Textile Stabilization
    • Textile Storage
    • Displaying Historic Costume
    • Displaying Flat Textiles
    • Museum Pests
    • Disaster Response
    • Advanced Topics
    • Class Readings
    • Staff Publications
    • Resources in Spanish
    • MTS Videos and Slide Shows
  • Andover Figures™
    • Our Mission
    • The Andover Figures System
    • Choosing a Form
    • Purchasing Andover Figures
    • AF Contact Form

The Mary Baker Eddy Peace Flag, Part I

2/3/2015

0 Comments

 
by Megan Mary Creamer 

Museum Textile Services recently spent a pre-blizzard Monday morning in Boston alongside the Mary Baker Eddy Library staff de-installing the famous century-old Peace Flag. Since 1936, the flag has been hanging in its custom-built bronze and glass case made by the Gorham Company of Providence, RI, on the second floor mezzanine at the Mary Baker Eddy Library. Below the flag is a painted plaque reading, “This flag was made by 400 workers for World Peace and presented to Mary Baker Eddy as a tribute to her efforts in behalf of World Peace." It was given by Eddy to the Christian Science Board of Directors with the words “For the mother Church with love.” 
Picture
MTS Director Camille Myers Breeze points out the flag's weak points to Mary Baker Eddy Library staff. Photo by Museum Textile Services.
PictureWalking through the deinstallation steps ahead of time reduces the likelihood of damaging the delicate silk flag. Photo by Museum Textile Services.
Camille and MBE Library curator Pamela Winstead had been discussing this project for several months, and each arrived with a team to get the flag out of the case and safely rolled for transport to MTS for conservation. With plenty of staff on hand to document and assist, Camille laid out the plan for safely removing the flag, accounting for all the variables and potential issues to look out for to get this large, delicate flag off of the wall. The custom case had done an excellent job over the years, but the gasket had failed, allowing dust to work its way in. The ten individual bows of red, white and blue silk tying the flag to a brass rod were now causing the flag to sag under its own weight. Other issues, such as possible breakdown of the silk, light damage, accretion of other substances, and structural issues would be fully assessed after the flag was removed.

Picture
Camille Myers Breeze and MBE Library curator Pamela Winstead open the flag onto a prepared surface prior to rolling. Photo by Museum Textile Services.
Taking down the flag went off without a hitch as two Library staff slowly lowered the brass rod, allowing the flag to accordion itself on a muslin sling. Camille and Pamela then carried the sling over to where clean muslin was laid out onto the floor and gently unfurled the flag. It became immediately apparent that the flag has retained more of the vibrancy of the original dyes on the reverse, though it is unknown whether this occurred while in the case or in the roughly twenty years between its creation and subsequent installation at the library. 
Picture
Assessing the structural integrity of the flag, its surrounding silk, and the heavy silk fringe. Photo by Museum Textile Services.
Camille inspected the flag carefully and planned for the best way to pack and transport it. To keep the aged silk from shattering, and not introduce any more fold lines or other stress, the flag was rolled onto a padded archival tube with additional padding between the layers, making a soft and secure package for transport. Over the next two months, MTS staff will conserve this historic flag before returning it to its custom case. Be on the lookout for the next MTS Blog detailing conservation treatments, a new hanging system, and re-installation at the Mary Baker Eddy Library.

Picture
Megan Mary Creamer has a BFA in industrial design from Massachusetts College of Art, and is completing an ALM in museum studies at Harvard University Extension School.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    MTS Blog

    Want Answers?

    Categories

    All
    Abigail Brooks Adams
    Adams National Historical Park
    Admiral Perry
    AFL
    Africa
    American Institute For Conservation
    Amherst College
    Andover Figures
    Armor
    Arts And Crafts Movement
    Assuit
    Awvs
    Ballardvale
    Ballard Vale Mills
    Bamboo
    Banner
    Banshou In Temple
    Baseball
    Bed Hangings
    Bicorn
    Bleach
    Bombing
    Boning
    Books
    Boston
    Boston College
    Boston Marathon
    Boston Strong
    Brooks Brothers
    Bulldog
    Burnham
    Button
    Buttonwoods Museum
    Campbell Center
    Casablanca
    Chinese
    Christening Gown
    Christmas
    Civil War
    Cloak
    Cold Water Army
    Colonial Dames
    Concealed Objects
    Concord
    Copley Square
    Corset
    Costume
    Cotton
    Cotton Net
    Coverlet
    Crewel
    Crochet
    Digitally Printed Textiles
    Display
    Dog
    Dress Form
    Duchesse De Choiseul
    Echo Lake Aquarium
    Education
    Egypt
    E Magazine
    E-Magazine
    Embroidery
    English
    Ethafoam
    Exhibition
    Exhibits
    Fairbanks House
    Fancy Dress
    Farnsworth Museum Of Art
    Father Diman
    Featherbone
    Felting
    Filet Darning
    Fire
    Flag
    Flags
    Folly Cove
    Frame
    Framing
    France
    Ft. Knox
    Fur
    Furniture
    George Patton
    Gore Tex
    Gore-tex
    Handsome Dan
    Hat
    Henry Adams
    Hermansville
    Higgins Armory Museum
    Historic Replica
    Hitchcock
    Hockey
    Honest Marketing Revolution
    Hooked Rug
    Hopedale
    Huaca Malena Museum
    Infestation
    Insects
    Installation
    Intern Ryan
    Internship
    Ixl Museum
    Japan
    Jifu
    Journeymen Tailors Union
    Judaica
    King Louis
    Knitting
    Ky
    Lacquer
    Laundry Bluing
    League Of Their Own
    Leipzig
    Lily Yeats
    Ma
    Maine State Museum
    Mannequin
    Marines
    Mary Baker Eddy
    Mascot
    Massachusetts
    Mead Art Museum
    Middlesex School
    Military
    Mold
    Mon
    Monuments Men
    Moths
    Mourning Wmbroidery
    Moving Messages
    Natural Sciences
    Navy
    Nazi
    Needlecraft Magazine
    Negro League Baseball
    Nema
    New England Museum Association
    New Hampshire
    New Hampshire Historical Society
    News
    Oberlin College
    Olympets
    Olympics
    Painted Textile
    Painting
    Peabody Historical Society
    Peace Flag
    Peru
    Pests
    Phillips Academy
    Presidential Seal
    Quilts
    Rayon
    Religious Textiles
    Restoration
    Reverse Painted Glass
    Robe
    Rug
    Sack Suit
    Salescaster Inc
    Sampler
    Samurai
    Self Portrait
    Shaker
    Shakespeare's Tomb
    Shawl
    Sheer Overlays
    Shelburne Farms
    Sign
    Silk
    So Clan
    Sodium Borohydride
    Softball
    Soot
    Sports Uniforms
    Stays
    St. George's School
    Storage
    Study Collection
    Swatch Book
    Synthetics
    Tapestry
    Textile Conservation
    Textile Manufacture
    Textiles
    Thangka
    Trapunto
    Trustworth Studios
    Tru-Vue Optium
    Tsushima
    Uniform
    Uniforms
    Union Railroad Station
    Velour
    Versailles
    Vietnam War
    Waves
    Wedding Dress
    Western Task Force
    Wheaton College
    Will "Cannonball" Jackman
    Wisconsin Land Lumber Co.
    Women
    World War One
    World War Two
    Yale
    Yarn

Join Our Mailing List

Picture

Museum Textile Services, LLC

P.O. Box 5004
Andover, MA 01810
admin@museumtextiles.com
​
978.474.9200
  • About MTS
    • Our Team
    • Client List
    • Press Room
  • Conservation
    • Architectural Interiors
    • Asian Art
    • Ethnographic Textiles
    • Flags & Banners
    • Historic Clothing
    • Quilts and Coverlets
    • Samplers & Embroideries
    • Sports Memorabilia
    • Tapestries
  • Collections Care
    • Vac & Pack
    • Surveys
    • Disaster Response
  • Fumigation
    • Fumigation FAQs
  • Education
    • LL
    • Porto
    • C3
    • HPRH
    • Becoming a Textile Conservator
  • Resources
    • MTS Magazine
    • Textile Conservation Basics
    • Textile Stabilization
    • Textile Storage
    • Displaying Historic Costume
    • Displaying Flat Textiles
    • Museum Pests
    • Disaster Response
    • Advanced Topics
    • Class Readings
    • Staff Publications
    • Resources in Spanish
    • MTS Videos and Slide Shows
  • Andover Figures™
    • Our Mission
    • The Andover Figures System
    • Choosing a Form
    • Purchasing Andover Figures
    • AF Contact Form