Erin,

As a museum, objects, and sculpture conservator I'm not a big fan of
encouraging visitors to touch art or historic objects - even if they
have gloves on - I just think its a bad precedent except for working
the the visually impaired. I think that it would be a bad example for
kids - to be encouraged to touch or to see their parents touching
objects in a museum. It may be ok with the things that you are
planning on incorporating on your tour but what about when they visit
another institution and think its ok?

Unbleached white cotton gloves are good but then you have a continual
cleaning issue with them. Avoid latex as some percetage of the
population can get allergic reactions to it. Avoid powdered gloves -
as the cornstarch or talc inside make them more comfortable for the
wearer but the fine powder gets all over your objects. Avoid those
cotton gloves with rubber or plastic dots - they transfer to hard
surfaces like metals, ceramics, and glass.

When I worked in a museum lab and we had contant public tours I had a
sheet of sterling silver, steel, and brass that I passed around and
let everyone handle - people were amazed to see all the fingerprints
etched into the surfaces of the various metals. And they loved it when
I told them that I would have the FBI in to check on any fingerprints
that showed up on objects in our collections.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles,
California

On 6/30/06, Erin Wommack <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi again - I hope I don't wear out my welcome with posting twice in a
> fairly short time period!  We are developing a touch tours program and
>
> would like to order gloves that would allow (supervised) visitors to touc
> h
> certain sculptures in the collection.  Do any of your institutions use
>
> such gloves and which ones have you found to be the most successful?  We
>
> would ideally like to find gloves that would allow the visitor to be able
>
> to feel fine details but not be uncomfortable.  Any suggestions would be
>
> appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
>
> erin wommack
> Curatorial Assistant
> Art Museum of Western Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).