Caring for Family Collections: A Museum Perspective

A talk by Batja Bell at the Durand-Hedden House on Sunday, March 29 at 1 pm

MAPLEWOOD, NJ – March 2026 – Do you live with—and love—family collections and heirlooms? While museums preserve objects under carefully controlled conditions and often limit display, many of those methods are beyond the reach of the average household. The good news is that the same principles of preventive care can be applied at home.

On March 29, from 1 pm to 3 pm, Durand-Hedden will host a talk with museum professional Batja Bell, where you’ll be introduced to practical ways to care for treasured objects in your own collection. Learn how thoughtful documentation, handling, storage, and everyday use can help manage risk and extend the life of the things that matter to you—while still keeping them part of daily life. Participants will also learn to recognize when an item can be safely cared for at home and when professional conservation may be needed.

This two-hour presentation offers an introduction to collections care for personal heirlooms. Participants will also have the opportunity to view rarely displayed objects from Durand-Hedden’s holdings—many of which were once part of family collections themselves—and learn how museums care for them today.

Attendees are welcome to bring questions and photographs of objects from their own collections for discussion. Please do not bring original items. Examples of objects you may wish to ask about include photographs, scrapbooks, books, works of art on paper, ceramics, silverware, jewelry, textiles, and furniture.

Tickets are available on the event page.

About Batja Bell

Batja Bell holds an M.A. in Museum Studies/Collections Management and American Studies from The George Washington University. She has worked with museum collections for more than forty years, serving as a collections specialist, registrar, and conservation technician at several Smithsonian Institution museums, the Newark Museum, and the National Academy of Design. Since 2010, she has worked as an independent project registrar for more than a dozen museums in New York and Boston, and as a reviewer for the New Jersey Association of Museums’ Artifact Assessment Program (AAP). She also proudly describes herself as an “inventory geek.”

About Durand-Hedden House and Garden

The Durand-Hedden House and Garden Association is Maplewood’s historic house museum, dedicated to creating engaging and informative educational programs and materials about the local history of Maplewood and surrounding communities, natural history, and other related topics. The House, at 523 Ridgewood Road, Maplewood, is open once a month between September and June. For more information, visit our website at durandhedden.org. To arrange group tours, write to info@durandhedden.org. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter.