Dave, you beat me to the punch...
Let me plug two other resources however. Conservation OnLine and Heritage
Preservation.
fine COOL at http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/
And HP at: http://www.heritagepreservation.org
These should be bookmarked by everyone with responsibilities for museum
objects. Especially since HP funds conservation assessments of collections.
Oh, yeah, check out the courses at the Campbell Center for Historic
Preservation Studies. http://www.campbellcenter.org
We teach classes in what not to do to your collections and how to decide
not to do it.
Diane Gutenkauf
Campbell Center Board
On Mon, 17 May 2004 11:24:06 -0400, David Harvey <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>I just have to jump in on this one now. Deb - while your cleaning advice
and recommendations are fine for leather and tack that are relatively new
and are in everday use, they are not appropriate at all for historic
objects.
>
>I have seen the long-term deleterious effects of old soap and oil
residues - the organic oils polermerize and crosslink, permanently
darkening and degrading the leather, and such treatments can be disasterous
if applied to degraded leather with red rot areas.
>
>There are also bad effects from commercial brass cleaners such as brasso.
Brasso is an aggressive ammoniated cleaned with a high PH. Frequently
polishing with brasso can lead to erosion of the original metal surface,
the development of stress corrosion cracking from the ammonia, and copper
corrosion from polish residues that are not cleared from the surface. Metal
polish residues leach into the surrounding leather or organic materials and
can permanently bleach the leather.
>
>Even knowledgable and experienced conservators have to look closely at
historic objects and often have to do some testing before ascertaining a
safe cleaning methodology. And this also applies to removing things like
linseed oil from architecural surfaces (another recent cleaning posting).
>
>I hate to beat this drum but the best thing you can do is to call in a
conservator for a consult. Have someone take a look and to give you their
advice. This sort of consultation usually doesn't cost very much and it can
prove to be of enormous benefit in understanding more about preserving your
collections and sites.
>
>One of the dangers of the web are people acting on the recipies that are
often posted with all good intentions of being helpful. As an objects
conservator of long experience I can testify that often having to deal with
the preservation problems created by some of those "good intentions" can
double and often quaduple the cost of conservation.
>
>There are all sorts of resources out there to help small, medium, and
large sized musuems and cultural institutions conduct conservation
assessments, surveys, and treat collections. The IMLS, NEH, NEA, Getty, and
Mellon grant programs in the USA cover a wide variety of granting
opportunities just to name a few.
>
>So, please at least make a phone call to a conservator and discuss your
situation and problems before taking irreversible action.
>
>Cheers!
>Dave
>
>David Harvey
>Conservator
>Chair of Objects Specialty Group - AIC
>
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