ABSTRACT
Automobiles are important cultural artifacts for telling the story of the 20th and 21st centuries. Museums play an important role in historic vehicle preservation, yet automobiles challenge traditional collection management guidelines. Adaptable approaches and partnerships will enable museums to preserve historic automobiles better, along with the knowledge required for their continued maintenance. The near-universal exposure of visitors to automobiles in their daily lives makes the car a period-representative piece in the evolution of transportation, as well as in a variety of contexts from local history to industrial design and pop culture. Historical institutions also collect vehicles owned by area residents to illustrate general historical themes for a local audience. The weight of a vehicle can pose a challenge as the institution must make sure the building can hold the weight, and also have access to the human resources needed to move an object that can weigh several tons.
