Let's look back 25 years to the move from Lincoln Hall to the Spurlock Museum overview image
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Let's look back 25 years to the move from Lincoln Hall to the Spurlock Museum

  • Post Date: 7/25/2025
  • Author: Nicole Frydman
  • Reading Time: 6 minute read

In the summer of 2000, the museum team began the final phase of the transition from our old home in Lincoln Hall into the beautiful and brand new Spurlock Museum building we are housed in today. In honor of that 25th anniversary, we decided to take a look back at how massive an undertaking this truly was.

Here are some interesting tidbits:

Tidbit 1

The move in its entirety took over 5 years, with packing alone taking 2 and a half years! While some early prep work was possible while the museum was open and welcoming visitors, in the end the museum had to be closed to the public for nearly 5 years. During that time, staff kept education and community engagement a priority by doing outreach work with artifacts and belongings that could be easily and safely transported to other sites for exhibition and learning. But here’s some of what the public never saw:

  • Two workers remove wooden framing of an old exhibit wall amongst construction debris
  • Second floor view of the new central core gallery filled with sealed large wooden crates
  • partially demolished indoor entrance to the world heritage museum with parts of the marquee falling off above construction debris
  • Central core gallery filled with tall wooden artifact crates, buckets, and equipment
  • various artifacts lie on the floor and tables in front of emptied exhibit cases
  • an emptied attic exhibit hall with demolished exhibits, wooden crates, and a lone statue
  • Heaps of packing peanuts, foam, and bags piled in the corner of the auditorium stage

Tidbit 2

A large amount of the work was done by part-time student workers who had little to no direct experience when first joining the team. During the move, we had around 8 full time employees, but we had approximately 40-50 part-time student workers! This meant that education and skill-building was a central core of this work, which allowed students to graduate with hands-on experience that gave them a leg up in the job market. Student workers have always been part of museum operations and continue to be critical to our work today. Here are some shots of students in action.

  • Staff members place a long state into a long wooden artifact crate filled with bags of packing peanuts
  • two smiling students pose with partially packed and stacked cardboard boxes in an old exhibit gallery
  • 8-10 staff members in protective gear lift pieces of a plaster cast sculpture off of its base
  • a wide shot featuring wooden crate panels lining a hallway leading to a group of staff members removed a large sculture from display
  • A large group of staff members pose triumphantly behind a partially dismantled plaster cast of the Pieta sculpture

Tidbit 3

But not everyone who worked with us then went onto other roles. Three people who worked for the museum during this move still work for the museum today! They are: Christa Deacy-Quinn - currently our Senior Collections Manager who has worked here for 34 years, Jack Thomas - currently our Director of Information Technology who has worked here 27 years, and John Holton - currently our Assistant Collections Manager who has worked here 26 years, including starting as a part-time student worker during this move. While these three have been with us the longest, they aren’t the only long-term employees. And we like to think this speaks to the culture we’ve created here, shows how deeply our employees care about and are committed to this work, and contributes to why we can deliver for the community in high quality ways.

(Note that we have no photos of Jack because he was the person taking all the photos. So in a way, he’s in all of them!)

  • Four staff pose humorously in a large emptied exhibit case
  • A younger staff member poses during a break while leaning on a wooden exhibit crate
  • a woman poses sitting on the floor in overalls and a headband
  • Two staff members pose with a palette jack inside of a box truck with several wooden artifact crates

Tidbit 4

Many of the crates for the larger pieces couldn’t fit in the Lincoln Hall elevators. So in order to get things into the space, they were carried in pieces and then assembled once inside. To get them down and out of the building was a bit more complicated: they had to ride on top of the elevator! This ended up being a better option than the other proposed idea: to cut a hole in the building and use a forklift to take things out of said hole.

  • Three workers steady a large exhibit crate as it descends into an elevator shaft on top of an elevator
  • Three workers stand on top of a platform in an elevator shaft with exposed mechanical wheels and pulleys
  • a smiling staff member holds a crate while they both descend into an elevator shaft

Tidbit 5

Considering how arduous this process was, and how fragile many of the artifacts and belongings are, there was a remarkably high success rate. Out of 35,000+ items, less than 10 were broken and none were lost. None! An astounding record for a move of this scale!

  • a table of artifacts labeled "Artifacts Ready to Pack"
  • A table of many smaller artifacts and one tabletop bust, all with paper labels
  • a staff members works in an old exhibit gallery to carefully pack an artifact into a box lined with paper
  • A collection of flatter objects carefully wrapped in sheets of foam and colorful tape
  • A view from the central core gallery under construction looking into a partially installed ancient mediterranean exhibit with statue wrapped in tape
  • a view of the central core gallery from above with some wooden crates still awaiting unpacking

Tidbit 6

Because the internet wasn’t the same kind of tool it is today, resources and information for this gigantic project simply weren’t available. You couldn’t just Google how to pack an ancient artifact and get a custom built crate shipped overnight. Instead, the team had to travel to experts who’d done similar projects to learn about what they had done, and partner that with their own creativity in order to design processes, create packaging, and use materials not intended for this kind of use. The pink tape you see here? That’s veterinary tape that’s typically used on large animals like horses. Just one example of the many creative solutions the team came up with! (Note that it comes in other colors. Christa chose pink because she liked it and thought it would be fun and happy.)

  • three staff members pack plaster cast panels into a crate with protective foam pieces
  • A group of staff and workers maneuver a large sculpture with protective pink tape
  • A smller plaster cast panel of a person lies wrapped in pink tape on a piece of plywood
  • Outdoors, staff members reinstall wooden panels on a wooden crate protecting the large statue with pink tape

Today

Now that we’re all moved in and have been in our new building for a couple decades, it can be hard to remember how different the museum was back then. We’re so proud of the work that was done in the early years, the way we have always honored our commitment to engage student workers and hold education at the core of everything we do, and of the way we’ve grown to be the museum we are today. We can’t wait to see what the future holds, and we’re glad to have you all along for the ride with us!

  • A modern view of the central core gallery with comfortable furniture
  • Historic photo of the ancient roman gallery with busts and cast panels
  • modern view of the americas gallery with a bold yellow wall and new comfortable furniture
  • historic photo of a brightly lit exhibit gallery with long flat wooden casework and skylights
  • modern photo of the ancient mediterranean gallery with beanbag chairs and other comfortable furniture
  • historic photo of a darkened european gallery with blue walls and artifacts mounted in cases and on the walls