A large part of the Museum's collections is not on public view; it
is put away in the Museum's reserves, located in the former gold cellar
of the Dutch Central Bank. We have three storerooms: one, the largest one
- the so-called Front Storeroom - , is relatively humid, destined for organic
materials, like wood, textiles and papyrus. The Middle Storeroom is meant
as a transit room: temporary storage of objects which must be restored,
exhibition loans etc. The Back Storeroom is the dry room: it is meant for
matal objects, mainly bronze.
What is publicly exhibited and what not is partly a simple matter of available
room. For example, most of the Egyptian objects are on display, with the
exception of the sensitive Coptic textiles; on the other hand, less than
half of the Near Eastern collection is exhibited due to lack of space. If
many similar objects like oil lamps or coins are present, usually only a
small selection is on show.
Since the renovation of a few year ago the storerooms comply with strict
environmental demands. Temperature and humidity are regulated, and wooded
cases have been replaced by metal systems. Foundations and paints used are
chemically inert.
The archives of the Museum contain beside the archive of the Allard Pierson Foundation and part of the archive of the Archaeological-Historical Institute, when it was one organisation with the Museum, and of course the archive of the Museum itself from 1932 onwards, the birth year both of the Foundation and the Museum. It preserves the archive of the former Museum Scheurleer in The Hague (see collections for the history of the Museum), and in part the private files of its founder, C.W. Lunsingh Scheurleer, as is a (part of) the private files of one of the former Directors, Prof. Dr. E. Haspels.
