I'm a little rusty on conservation, so I needed some advice.  I'm working at a small museum and found something growing on a few leather artifacts in one case.  I pulled the items for conservation today and was looking more closely at them.  I thought it was a mildew of some sort, but I'm not entirely sure.  On one item, it seemed like clear - white crystals, small in clumps.  When I touched it with my glove, the crystals transferred to the glove.  Not powdery, like I though it might be.  It's not all over the item, but definately in one location.  The other item is more white, powdery looking in spots and in crevases.  More of I expected mildew to be.  So my first question is...is the crystals a form of mildew?  Secondly, how do I clean them?  In reverting back to my original training, I was going to brush off the mildew the best I can, using a foam brush and maybe pointy q-tips for the crevasses.  Then maybe use some Renaissance Wax to clean it.  And just leave it out for a few days while I track down the humidity/temp problem in the case.  Does this sound like a good plan?  Also, one piece is a collar for a horse and some of the leather is cracking quite bad.  Should I use the wax on this piece?  

Thanks for your help.

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