Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana is growing up.

Founded in 1997 by Laurel and Bud Cheff Jr., the museum has been growing its collection of Native early Montana and gaining in popularity and prestige. Last year, it began a major leap forward into state-of-the-art preservation and collections management.

With a grant from National Endowment for the Humanities and complementary grants through the Montana History Foundation and the Greater Polson Community Foundation, the museum hired an Pat Roath of the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, which helped to assess and prioritize the short- and long-term needs of the museum. From this, they developed a five-year conservation plan to help ensure the precious items in their collection receive the highest standards of care possible, to help ensure their preservation long into the future. The project evaluated ways the museum could upgrade their displays, storage, and security. The grant also included funds to acquire storage shelves and help improve storage shelving, purchase acid-free paper and storage boxes, and even acquire a printer and a laptop that now includes a database to catalog the collection inventory.

Now the process of fulfilling those needs the project identified is underway. Because the museum operates on a very small budget with mostly volunteer personnel, “it is definitely a long work in progress,” said director Jo Cheff. But they have already started implementing many of the recommendations; the plan gives a roadmap that can help guide fundraising, and a to-do list.

Cheff described several areas the museum will be working on.

The project included consulting with both the Salish and the Kootenai Cultural Committees as to how they could preserve and present items appropriately for the tribes they came from.

“Every tribe has a different set of cultural standards,” said Cheff. For example, one tribe might separate out items according to gender or hierarchy. Others said it would be nice to have items from their tribe grouped together rather that scattered in displays with those of other tribes. We talked about partnering with them on some exhibits in the future, too.”

Signage and history needs to be updated with tribal input, and a long-term goal is to have signage in the appropriate native language as well as English, and eventually audio so the language can be heard.

Mitigating humidity issues, and “off-gassing” inside wooden cases, is one of the physical features to be addressed. They will be drilling a holes in the cases to create a venting system, and they use humidifiers and de-humidifiers to manage the humidity within an acceptable range.

“Lighting is one of my next really important projects to work on,” Cheff said. “Our lighting is too bright for a lot of the items.” She changes out bulbs as they need replace, but long-term changes might include graduated lighting that starts out brighter and then dims as your eyes adjust. “We will do everything in steps so we have the right light for each situation.”

Security was identified as another need. Ropes, sensors, and cameras have been installed to protect some displays. “But there’s still security risk involved,” Cheff said. The goal is to have plexiglass where the ropes are, to help prevent theft. “That would make it less friendly,” she admits. But even though it is monitored with numerous cameras, “by the time you know that it happened it’s hard to actually catch the person.” Several security enhancements will be done as funds allow.

Preserving such items as buckskin, fabrics, and beads is difficult. Buckskin needs to be handled in order to remain supple, while glass beads can chemically degrade, and fabrics last longer if they can “rest” in storage rather than hang on display at all times.

“Unlike a lot of museums, we have most of our collection out, and not too much in storage,” said Cheff. “So it’s not ‘resting.’” Several such items needing special treatment were identified and planned for.

For example, when funding is available, they may make a replica or display photos of an especially old and fragile story hide, and not have the actual item out.

A beaded dress is suffering from “bead disease,” when the glass beads start to deteriorate due to chemical and humidity changes over time.

This item is now being stored until methods for preserving the beads are found. They also are monitoring to for insect pests in the building. “We didn’t find too many damaging types,” Cheff said, “but the hides have to be treated occasionally. It’s never ending.”

Indeed, it is more than a full-time job for Cheff, sometimes seven days a week, and much of it she volunteers. “But sometimes we need someone with more expertise than I have.”

“We are a non-profit and we really rely on our community and the public for support,” Cheff said. “That’s the only way we keep our doors open. Volunteers with expertise in museum curation, as well as those with skills in digital marketing and social media would be really helpful. But we can use volunteer help at all levels.” Due to COVID, the museum is even more reliant on volunteers as they are operating without a full staff.

They are doing a lot with what they have, however. “We haven’t gotten as far as I’d like to, but we did get some important things done, such as creating storage. That report is pretty thick.”

With the planned upgrades, another long-term goal is national accreditation.

The museum is currently open Thursday and Friday, 9-5, and weekends 10-4. COVID prevention measures are being observed. Masks and hand-sanitizing are required. Entry is limited to ten visitors in the building at the time.