The final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark involves an expanding shot of the ark being taken into a vast warehouse in a nondescript box. Is this what really happens to important items from the past?

Years ago, I had the opportunity to visit some of the storage rooms of the Field Museum in Chicago. This large museum has lots of exhibit space – over 480,000 square feet, according to the museum – but there is even more behind the scenes. The rooms were not full of anonymous boxes but there were shelf after shelf of items.

Or take the British Museum in London. According to the museum, just 1% of their collection is on display. Even as millions of visitors walk through large displays, there are many more items they never see.

Is this all part of a conspiracy theory – as suggested in the Indiana Jones movie – or is this simply how museums operate? The latter is the case as these items may not be on display for a variety of reasons and they serve as resources for ongoing research. The public may see a wealth of items but there is much more in storage.

Outside of working in the museum and archives business, I am not sure how one might see such storerooms around the world. I was impressed by what I saw at the Field Museum and can only imagine what is in secure storage elsewhere.