All Bottled Up: Hazard Assessment of an Historic Pharmaceutical Collection

Shelburne Museum’s extensive pharmaceutical collection, located in northwestern Vermont, USA, has been the subject of a multi-year inventory project partially funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant. Amounting to over 9,000 objects, 5,000 to 6,000 of which are unique products, the collection has been largely untouched since its acquisition circa 1947 to 1970. Housed in a historic general store and custom annex, the collection encompasses roughly 200 years of American pharmaceutical, veterinary, and cosmetic history. This article explores the discovery, research, triage, and disposal of the hazards found within the collection during the inventory.