Without apology, but with all due humility (you, gentle reader, decide
how much humility is due), I would like to respond to the question of
research and published data.
 
If you would like to know what sort of chemicals are to be applied to an
artifact, look in a current copy of a book entitled <Chemical Toxicology
of Commercial Products>.  If the product you may plan to use is not
listed there, check an edition from an earlier year.  The product may
have gone out of production.
 
Don't know how the chemicals used in the commercial products may interact
with your artifact?  Then why are you planning to use them?
 
You will find little in AATA (Art & Archeaology Technical Abstracts) which
addresses this question.  I know, for I have a complete set of this,
going back to the original set put out by the Smithsonian Institution.
 
You will find little in conservation or archaeological literature which
addresses this question.
 
Dr. Robert Feller introduced the concept of induction time to
conservators some years ago.  This gets to the meat of the problem.
 
Paint manufacturers conduct tests and publish the results which explain
why XYZ's paint will stand the test of time better than XYB's.  This
looks good.  For XYZ.  This says nothing about how well (for instance) a
painting on a wooden panel from the 14th century will stand another year
on display.
 
We (conservators/curators) have no idea how many lux hours of energy have
been absorbed by the painting before it came to museum A, and we are
unable to state with certainty how long it may be until the next major
shift in tone/color values occurs.
 
A bone removed from a burial pit is exposed to an environment which is
radically different from the conditions of burial in at least two
dimensions.  It is older (and has been leached from or been added to by
the conditions of burial), and it has been suddenly been exposed to a
very different environment.
 
Would someone care to describe to me the parameters of a research project
which would encompass the differences; much less the goals of such a
research project.
 
By way of mitigation (this is the 'all due humility' part) I own the only
privately owned conservation laboratory listed as a research center by
George Cunha in his two volume work entitled <Libraries and Archives
Conservation: 1980's and Beyond>.
 
To put this in perspective, I work on Egyptian papyri, medieval and
renaissance books, and modern works.  This includes material brought up
from the depths of the sea; from desert burials; wood; metal; skin; bone;
textiles; paper.
 
I conduct research with light and scanning electron microscopes, with
spectrophotometers, with liquid chromotography and high pressure liquid
chromotography (HPLC), and a variety of less complex analytical tools.
 
My personal reference collection exceeds 4,000 volumes and more serials
than I can easily count.
 
If I have learned nothing else in more than 20 years in the business, it
is that museums and libraries (as entities; not indivdual staff) are more
than willing to pass on to the next generation the problems which
confront them.
 
There is a reason for this.  It is difficult to define the parameters of
investigation in an area of research which has few resources.
 
At one time, I served as conservator to an institution which allocated
$2.00/month to supplies for conservation.  I did not serve there for long.
 
I understand the problems; I am not certain that those who ask questions
understand the terms of the arguement.
 
Let me put it in another perspective. Some years ago a colleague of mine
attended a fiber microscopy course in Chicago (McCrone Institute).  One
afternoon at the drinking fountain she talked with one of her classmates
and learned that her classmate, a scientist from the R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Company, represented a research group which exceeded in number the
number of conservation scientists in the world.  There were approx. 50
RJR scientists at that time.
 
I am not happy about this and I do not expect you to be happy about
this.  How much do you know about chemistry?  What is your level of
responsibility for collections care?
 
Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Laboratory
Portland, OR
 
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