Saving those graduation pics for posterity

Walter Sprague
Art and Culture Reporter
 
For over six months, the Weston County Museum District has been restoring and preserving the composites of the graduating classes of Weston County School District No. 1. For several years these pictures were on display in the halls of the Weston County Senior Center. However, they were taken down by the museum several months ago when it became apparent that significant damage had occurred.
In all, there are 75 composites of the graduating classes. And every one of them has had to have some repair and restoration done to them, according to Bobbie Jo Tysdal, the museum’s director. In a March 10 letter to the senior center, the museum district stated that it had one full-time staff member and a part-time member working on the restoration. The staff has worked on the preservation of the composites for five and a half months. The cost of the restoration was $23,945.00 at that time. However, four of the composites, the graduating class years 1965 through 1968, were so severely damaged by water and mold that they were destroyed without entering the museum. All members of the museum board of trustees signed the letter.
“Mold is very destructive, and we cannot introduce mold in the museum that may infect other artifacts; thus, those four original composites had to be destroyed.” the letter said, “We have a professional photographer working on replacing those four composites. It will be another couple of months before those are finished and we know what the additional costs will be.”
The composites date back to 1923. They were donated to the museum district by the school district, so they are owned by the museum. They had been in the physical custody of the museum until they were displayed at the senior center. But over the past couple of years, the senior center has had some roof issues, with leaks and water damage arising as a result. Part of the damage to the composites was due to those leaks. The roof has since been repaired, and the mold has been eradicated. But the damage to the composites was not only done by water and mold. Many of the panes of glass were broken, and many frames were also damaged. With all these issues, the museum has decided to keep the pictures on-site at the Anna Miller Museum to preserve them for posterity.
And the issues don’t stop with the damage. With the current COVID-19 crisis, the museum board has closed the museum to the public. With the uncertainty over whether the all-school reunion will take place, and with the museum closed, the possibility of viewing the composites soon is in question. Jen Smith and Tracy Olson, the organizers of the reunion, will be deciding the status of that event as soon as they know what options, if any, they have. 
“We hope to make that determination at the end of the month,” Smith said, “We will also do a Facebook poll to see what people would prefer to do at that time. Hopefully, we will be allowed to continue, but we don’t know yet. If we can’t get together this year, maybe next year.”
Before social distancing, Tysdal said, anyone who wanted to see the composites could view them at the museum and even have a copy if they brought in a USB flash drive. With the museum closed during this time, that is not available. When it opens again, anyone who wants a digital copy must bring in a flash drive in its original unopened package. Loose drives are not going to be allowed. This helps prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And since the museum closed the hardware necessary to copy these images to a drive has not been set up. Tysdal does not know when that will happen. She also said that the finalization of the four destroyed pictures is on hold as well. She will get the information out when she has more. But for now viewing of those composites is on hold indefinitely.