Milwaukee Public Museum starts packing for move in 2027

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Their new building is not scheduled to open until 2027, but the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) has started the process of packing up their artifacts to move.

If you had four million things to wrap, you'd start early too.

CBS 58 was invited to the fourth floor of the MPM, where move technicians are wrapping items and placing them in crates. This first round of packing consists of items from the "British Ceramics" collection, part of the 23,000 glass and ceramic items from the history collections.

The work is slow, careful, and repetitive. The museum does not use the basic packing materials like tape or bubble wrap that you or I might use on a move. Move technician Quinn Tahon says special packing materials are needed.

"It's chemically stable so it won't react with the objects in any way, everything on this table is archival," he said.

Tahon says he finds the work rewarding, because he gets to be closer to historic artifacts than anyone in the general public.

Curators compare loading the crates to a high-stakes game of Tetris. Maximizing the available crate space while protecting the artifacts as much as possible. The move is also an opportunity for MPM to digitally inventory all of their artifacts. Sara Podejko, MPM collections move project manager, says curators have made discoveries in their own collection.

"It might not have been looked at for 50+ years," she said.

When people move, some of their stuff often gets left behind or thrown away. That will not happen with MPM artifacts.

"We don't get rid of anything, we just keep it all, but yes, we are organizing," Podejko said.

Once packed, crates will be stored at MPM until they are loaded onto trucks and moved. The destination will be either to a secure, off-site storage facility or to the future museum itself.

The Milwaukee Public Museum will be relocated from Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee to a newly constructed building, scheduled to open by early 2027.