New pirate exhibit at Museum of Idaho took time to prepare, a lot of time

The Museum of Idaho’s new pirate exhibit has got a lot going for it. From real treasure, to multi-ton iron cannons., from a mock pirate ship, to a replicated tavern scenes, a person could spend well over an hour at the new exhibit. What a lot of people don’t see is the amount of time museum staff spent preparing the exhibit for the public.

“It was organized chaos,” said Rod hansen, museum’s director of exhibitions. “Given our square footage, bringing eight truck loads of cases, crates, and pallets, we were wall to wall.”

Museum staff and volunteers spent hundreds of man hours building, setting up, and painting all the displays. The cannons all had to be moved by a fork lift. One of the most time consuming aspects was dealing with the original artifacts, some of which are more than 300 years old. Each small artifact had to carefully be placed in airtight glass display cases where both light and humidity are monitored.

“The artifacts are very fragile, especially the textiles,” said Claire Smith, the museum curator. “There can’t be too much light and the humidity has to be just right or it deteriorates quickly.”

Smith says even cleaning the cases prior to placing the artifacts inside is a big deal. “You have to wait a certain amount of time so that the chemicals in the air aren’t trapped in there with the artifacts,” said Smith.

Despite the time, most of the museum staff say the exhibit is worth it, and it’s one of their favorites.

The official public opening is Friday, May 8.