Barbara
 
Sorry if I sounded scolding, I certainly didn't mean to.  I know my
writing style is pretty pedantic, and I'll try to loosen it up for this
medium.  I try to be objective and concrete...and apparently some people
(not you alone) read that as authoritarian (rather than authoritative).
Apologies to all.
 
My first training was in an objects lab, and my first treatment experience
was inpainting an indelible label on a beautiful aboriginal porous stone
knife, so I felt on reasonably safe ground about labelling -- or at least
the basic conservation conventions and the science that underlies them.  I
think I've said elsewhere that my area of experience is books, paper, and
photo preservation. I draw on my colleagues here for questions of artifact
history, treatment, and other issues.
 
_________________________________
 
Karen Motylewski                                508-470-1010
Northeast Document Conservation Center          508-475-6021 fax
100 Brickstone Square                           <[log in to unmask]>
Andover, MA 01810                               Use KM in subject field