<s>  Diane - d'ya have any birds there?

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> From: Diane Gutenkauf <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Bird Dusting , Yikes!!
> Date: Monday, August 25, 1997 4:58 PM
>
> Denis Allen, [log in to unmask], wrote:
>
> >While working at the Bell Museum years ago I was informed by John Jaros,
> then the preparator at that >institution, that one of the most effective
> ways of cleaning mounted specimens that had become dusty
> >was with bread.  A loaf of sliced bread is cheap, already in usable
sized
> pieces, will not blow arsenic >dust or other harmful materials used in
old
> mounts all over, and is easily obtained.
>
>
> Let's get sensible. Really, BREAD!!! And I suppose you rub raw potatoes
> over your oil paintings and feel the need to "feed" your furniture, too.
Do
> you still believe that boiling linseed oil makes it "ok?"  Do you freeze
> your insect infested artifacts by putting them on the roof of your
building
> in the winter? When was the last time you consulted a professional
> conservation journal? Food products are hardly appropriate materials to
use
> for caring for cultural property.There are reams of published material
> dedicated to caring for natural history specimens and none of them cite
> bread as an appropriate tool. Perhaps you should update your library and
> refrain from dispensing erroneous conservation advice.
>
> A preparator is not a conservator. A preparator does not usually have a
> degree in chemistry. A preparator ofted works under the direction of a
> conservator.
>
> And as for Mr. Jaros, perhaps that's why he's working as a director and
not
> as a preparator any longer.
>
> Diane "On my soapbox again and holding out for moments of rational
thought"
> Gutenkauf