To Anne Carlson:
We recently had great success for a historic homes tour by having visitors
pull on disposable booties over their outdoor shoes. They did not need to
remove their own footwear. We provided benches at doorways and baskets of
the booties. People tended to pick up a pair of booties at the first
historic house and keep them to wear at all sites visited that day-- many
wore them in all eight houses so they must not have been very fragile. The
cost was quite inexpensive, and easily could be covered by a surcharge. We
ordered ours from a disaster cleanup supply company, DAWG Inc., on the web
(Google for access to on-line catalog). Extra-large took care of all adults,
and the kids were happy to take their shoes off. Booties could be
distributed with entrance tickets. Note these are not surgical booties or
"clean room" booties but more on the order of contractor's booties; the
others varied in price from expensive to totally unreasonable. It was not
raining during our tour; if you have to deal with a wet climate or access,
there are vinyl booties, also disposable and very inexpensive. Warning: they
really soaked me on shipping charges, even though the booties were
inexpensive and packaged by 200 pair in a small box. Be cautious and
ascertain what the hidden charges are.
Just two days ago I visited an historic estate, on a wet day, shortly after
the maintenance staff had cut the grass. No booties were required, and
visitors were invited in with outdoor shoes on. I was pretty horrified, but
the docent assured me that grass, wood chips from the paths, fallen leaves,
twigs, etc. did not harm the carpets (there was no debris-removing mat at
the door and no place to sit for shoe removal). I still don't believe her--
the mess in our wake was appalling, and subsequent holiday visitors would
have ground it in. But-- it's their site.
I'd stick with bootie coverage and daily light vacuuming, occasional airing
and turning... unless you can afford to have the carpets reproduced in some
stain-resistant uncrushable fibre, which has its own fire, aesthetic or
other hazards.
Caveat: Obviously, I am not a textile or carpet conservator!
Micki Ryan
Lopez Center for Community and the Arts
Lopez Island, Washington USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Anne Carlson
Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 1:59 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Seeking advice on carpet conservation
Asking the carpet question again...
I'm looking for advice on the care and preservation of
our historic area rugs. During our regular house
tours, all visitors are able to walk on at least five
of our historic carpets. The museum formerly used
clear vinyl runners on the floors to alleviate dirt,
although this was not a solution after the staff
realized that the runners were digging into the
carpets and causing further damage. The runners were
removed about five years ago, and since then the
museum has done nothing to prevent visitors from
walking on these historic carpets. The carpets are
slightly worn from their intial useage in the house,m
but remain in fairly good condition. Other solutions
we've considered have included using mats, asking
visitors to remove their shoes and don surgical
booties, rolling back the carpets partially, etc.,
etc.
I would appreciate some advice on this problem, as it
seems to be a constant worry for myself and my
colleagues.
Thank you,
Anne Carlson
Curator
Sam Rayburn House Museum
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