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Title: “Collection conservation.” Collection: Banno Family Collection. Repository: Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre. Accession Number: 2016.30.

BURNABY — The Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre (NNMCC) is currently working on a new digitization project, thanks to funding from the British Columbia History Digitization Program and the Government of Canada Museum Assistance Program, Digital Access to Heritage.

Our project, titled Behind the Lens: The Okamura and Banno Families, focuses on making accessible the photographs, paintings, and textual records that make up the Banno Family collection.

The protective equipment used to clean and conserve the Nikkei National Museum’s collection. Photo credit: Nikkei National Museum.

Spanning from the 1900s to 2021 and across three generations, this collection centres around Mata Banno (née Okamura) and her family, including her father, New Westminster photographer Paul Okamura; husband Dr. Edward Chutaro Banno, a dentist and activist in the Japanese Canadian community; and son Robert Banno, a lawyer with expertise in Japan-Canada business and trade, and Indigenous law.

Before we begin digitization, we process the records. This involves inventorying the materials, arranging and describing, and when needed, carrying out conservation cleaning. Due to age, storage conditions, or damage before they arrive at the archives, some records have dust, mold, or water damage.

To protect the staff and researchers working with these records and to prevent further deterioration, we clean these records using soft bristle brushes and a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter to remove dust and mold spores that may be on the items. We also make sure to get fully suited up when conducting this work, wearing goggles, N95 masks, gloves, lab coats, and earplugs.

In this photograph, collections staff Sam Frederick and Lisa Uyeda are cleaning one of the items from the Banno Family collection to prepare it for the next stages of our project.

To explore items from the NNMCC collections, visit www.nikkeimuseum.org.

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THIS ARTICLE WAS REPRINTED FROM NIKKEI VOICE’S SUMMER 2023 ISSUE. 

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