The Save Our Hide Conservation Fund was established in 2008 to allow donations to be set aside to complete conservation work on important artifacts in the Museum’s collection. The Museum has identified more than 100 objects in its collection that are in need of professional preservation and conservation; however, this work is extremely expensive and often falls by the wayside due to financial constraints. Conservation efforts supported by this fund ensure that Lam Museum’s objects will survive to educate future generations.
Contributions to the Conservation Fund have been used to support the following projects:
- Conservation of a mid-19th century Comanche painted hide
- Conservation of a Yan ka di puppet, a ceremonial object from Mali
- Purchase of appropriate materials to create a state of the art storage environment for the entire collection
- Conservation of a pair of Barong Sai masks from Bali
- Conservation of a Pima ceramic cup
- Conservation of a Yoruba house of the head, or ile ori
- Conservation of a stone Coptic icon from Ethiopia
- Construction of a mezzanine level in our storage facility to provide the best care and storage of our collections
- Materials needed to move collections to new custom-designed storage space in the Museum’s new Palmer Hall location
- Conservation of a Kuba hat from the Democratic Republic of the Congo
2022 Project
This year, we request your financial assistance to professionally conserve a Yoruba Eshu figure from Nigeria. This shrine figure was collected by Dr. Stanley Bohrer, a longtime donor to the collections and Lam Museum Advisory Board member, who recently passed away. Eshu is a trickster deity who also serves as a messenger between humans and other gods. Eshu shrine figures are often festooned with cowrie shells or money to convince Eshu to deliver messages rather than play tricks. The Lam Museum frequently uses this figure to teach about African religions in Anthropology, Religion, and Art History courses at Wake Forest. Due to the failure of an original repair in the figure’s elaborate hairstyle, it must be repaired and stabilized before it can be exhibited or used in teaching again. The help of supporters like you is essential to completing the conservation of this important artifact.
Please contact Assistant Director Sara Cromwell at 336.758.5282 or lammuseum@wfu.edu to learn more. Donations to the Conservation Fund are fully tax-deductible.