EEEEEEEKKKK!  You should never dry clean historic textiles.  Dry cleaning
requires heat and chemicals, both of which are harmful to the artifact.
Plus, you and the dry cleaning company would feel awfully bad if that
historic textile were ruined as a result of the cleaning.  Contact a
textiles conservator for their advise.  A conservator would be able to tell
you the best method for cleaning.  If the article is very dusty, you might
want to try vacuming it.  Lay it down flat and put piece of soft nylon
screen (make sure the edges aren't loose) then on the lowest setting (least
amount of suction) gently use a vacuum hose over the article.  If you need
more information, let me know.  I'll get my notes from my textiles
conservation class.  I'll probably have more references too.
Good luck.
H. Carroll



>
>I am doing research on the pros and cons of drycleaning extremely dusty and
>dirty textiles.  Does anyone know of references besides CCI Notes 13/13?  I
>am having trouble finding references for the application of drycleaning in
>museum collections.  Any help is appreciated.
>


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