David (or anyone else who might know) - Where might I find a sheet like the one you mention - silver, brass, and steel - for passing around on tours? Any idea of the cost? Jill R. Chancey, PhD Curator Lauren Rogers Museum of Art PO Box 1108 Laurel, MS 39441 (601) 649-6374 www.LRMA.org [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Harvey" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 3:29 PM Subject: Re: Gloves for touch tours > Erin, > > As a museum, objects, and sculpture conservator I'm not a big fan of > encouraging visitors to touch art or historic objects - even if they > have gloves on - I just think its a bad precedent except for working > the the visually impaired. I think that it would be a bad example for > kids - to be encouraged to touch or to see their parents touching > objects in a museum. It may be ok with the things that you are > planning on incorporating on your tour but what about when they visit > another institution and think its ok? > > Unbleached white cotton gloves are good but then you have a continual > cleaning issue with them. Avoid latex as some percetage of the > population can get allergic reactions to it. Avoid powdered gloves - > as the cornstarch or talc inside make them more comfortable for the > wearer but the fine powder gets all over your objects. Avoid those > cotton gloves with rubber or plastic dots - they transfer to hard > surfaces like metals, ceramics, and glass. > > When I worked in a museum lab and we had contant public tours I had a > sheet of sterling silver, steel, and brass that I passed around and > let everyone handle - people were amazed to see all the fingerprints > etched into the surfaces of the various metals. And they loved it when > I told them that I would have the FBI in to check on any fingerprints > that showed up on objects in our collections. > > Cheers! > Dave \ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).