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Final Report CPA Small Grant Pro Brush Collection HISTORIC NORTHAMPTON Preserving, Interpreting and Exploring Northampton’s Stories To: Northampton Community Preservation Committee From: Kelsy Sinelnikov, Collections Manager, Historic Northampton Date: August 19, 2020 Re: Final Report, The Pro Brush Company Collection Small Grant Northampton Community Preservation Committee Small Grant: Preservation of The Pro Brush Company Collection at Historic Northampton 2020 Final Report In December 2016, Historic Northampton received a Community Preservation Act Small Grant to preserve The Pro Brush Company Collection. This company was of local significance as one of the largest employers in Northampton for over a century. It was also of national significance. Founder Alfred P. Critchlow pioneered mid-19th-century thermoplastic. As one of the first large- scale toothbrush manufacturers in the United States, it was a leader in promoting better oral hygiene. This grant provided Historic Northampton with the funds to purchase archival quality supplies to better preserve the collection and increase its availability to researchers through rehousing and better documentation. The collection consists of objects, archival records and photographs. Since receiving the grant, The Pro Brush Company Collection has been moved into a new climate controlled storage room. The temperature and humidity are monitored and adjusted to make sure issues like mold growth do not damage the collection. The next step was to purchase archival-quality supplies with these grant funds to re-house the collections to assist in the long-term preservation of the collection and allow for better access. The objects in the collection – product samples from the 1860s to the 1960s - are currently being organized and rehoused into drawers, shelves, or boxes according to their material and size.  Historic Northampton was able to retain for storage the wooden cabinets donated by the company by purchasing Rockler drawer tape to line the runners of the drawers. This tape helps minimize friction when opening drawers. This friction was causing sawdust to fall onto some of the objects and accumulate in the drawers.  Ethafoam, a closed-cell polyethylene foam, was purchased to line the drawers in order to cushion objects and minimize movement in the drawers  Delicate or oversized objects were rehoused into specialty boxes, which also creates more space in drawers that were overcrowded. Brushes in storage drawers before rearrangement Brushes arranged on ethafoam and rearranged in drawers Sawdust accummulation in storage drawers Drawer tape applied to runners to reduce sawdust accummulation in drawers Objects and records before rehousing Smith Work-Study Student Abbie Benfield with newly housed objects Rehoused objects in archival boxes The Pro Brush Company archival collection is currently being rehoused and arranged into archival document boxes and folders. This grant allowed the museum to purchase archival quality storage boxes to rehouse the items in the advertising and photographic series. As reported earlier, an important set of advertising scrapbooks with pages containing company products and advertisements were re-housed in acid-free storage boxes. This storage protects the fragile bindings, minimizes handling of the books and protects the scrapbooks from dust. The oversize documents in the advertising series were also re-housed in a large, 2 ½’ long archival- quality box while two phonograph records with 1930s radio jingles were re-housed in a phonograph storage box. For the photograph series, a preliminary inventory and survey assisted in making estimates for purchasing supplies and creating an initial arrangement of this series. From September 2019 until March 2020, two students from Smith College with the assistance of museum staff and volunteers, rehoused around 3,000 photographs that are part of the collection. The photographs were placed in polyester sleeves and arranged by subject. The students also updated the collection finding aid, which will allow researchers to identify the photos and information they are interested in viewing. Pro-Brush Photographs in cartons before rehousing and arrangement Photographs rehoused into polyester sleeves and arranged into archival folders and boxes. Smith College students, Abbie Benfield and Fiona Wu rehousing and processing the photos in the Pro-Brush Company Collection. Archival records before rehousing An advertising scrapbook rehoused in an archival box Document boxes containing rehoused archival records Historic Northampton is very grateful for this small grant provided by the Community Preservation Committee. The grant was integral in allowing us to better organize and house the Pro-Brush Company Collection. The scrapbooks, advertising documents, photographs and product samples that arrived at Historic Northampton in non-archival cardboard boxes now reside in preservation-quality storage. It will enable the collection to be better utilized by researchers and assist in its long-term preservation.