American Conservation Consortium,
Ltd.
4 Rockville Road
Broad Brook, CT 06016
www.conservator.com
860-386-6058
*Collections Preservation
Consultation
*Conservation Assessments & Surveys
*Environmental
Monitoring & Low-Tech Control
*Moisture Management
Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care Grant
Preparation
*Conservation Treatment of:
Furniture
Painted Wood
Horse-Drawn Vehicles
Architectural Interiors
Marc A. Williams,
President
MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum
Program
Former Chief Wooden Object Conservator,
Smithsonian Institution
Fellow, American Institute
for Conservation (AIC)
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Thomas Kavanagh
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 5:14 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Smudging in a Tribal MuseumListeros (and conservators in particular):
An question has arisen in regard to a tribal museum for which tribe I am a sometime historical/cultural/NAGPRA consultant.
The museum building [which has no secure storage, only exhibition and office space] also houses the tribal NAGPRA offices. When they (the latter) receive repatriated artifacts (not burials), they often "smudge" them, smoke them as a blessing (and to fumigate them, if you will) with cedar or sage smoke. [An off-site secure storage for the NAGPRA items is available.]
The museum director, a tribal member and trained archaeologist, but not a long-time community resident, has issued a "burn ban" on any smudging in the building. This has upset the NAGPRA committee.
What say ye:
Is the occasional exposure [e.g., perhaps once every twenty years per artifact] of artifacts to cedar/sage smoke necessarily harmful? One of the tribe's NAGPRA board, a trained ornithologist, and the source of the above "fumigation" comment, suggests that it might be beneficial for items that have not been kept in ideal collections conditions. [I am also told that an examination of the building's blue prints shows that the exhibition space and the office space [i.e., museum and NAGPRA spaces] are on separate and distinct HVAC circuits.]
Thomas Kavanagh, PhD
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