In article <[log in to unmask]>, Jennifer Nuske
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>
>We have several museum houses and we want to install UV blinds (drastic
>improvement on that horrible film that bubbled on your windows) and I
>have a choice of two. The first is quite discreet, lets in a reasonable
>amount of light but has a factor 2 rating. (That is provides double the
>protection you get with no blind). The second gives a silver appearance
>on the windows (outside looking in), makes the rooms dark but has a
>protection factor of 10. Even if I choose the first I may have to
>introduce artificial lighting in the rooms but if I choose the second I
>will have no choice which opens another can of worms. Suggestions,
>especially from those who have this kind of blind in a house museum?
>
Not so much a reply to your specific problem, but two solution to low
lighting levels in hostoric houses which I found worked well for me (the
first as a child, the second more recently).

The first, in Joseph Wright's house, in Ironbridge, on an overcast
winter afternoon.  Before we moved out of the hall, the guide said
'You're going to think it's dark in these rooms ... but it's not yet
properly dark outside, and the people who lived here when this house was
new wouldn't have dreamed of lighting a lamp until then, unless they
were doing close work like sewing or reading ... do what they did - let
your eyes ajust'.  This made looking at portraits in gloom seem somehow
part of the experience, better than looking at them in artificial light.

The second, at Boscobel Hall in Staffordshire.  There is a fireplace in
an inner hall, with an inscription scratched on it.  There's no way that
it can be seen without artificial lighting, on all but the brightest
summer days ... so the guide carries a torch.  It's a great control
device, allowing her to direct the visitor's gaze not only in this room,
where it's really needed, but in other rooms too.

Of course, if your blinds are roller-blinds, you might be able to raise
them in the late afternoon.

--
Pat Reynolds
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Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum
   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Prattchet)