Dear Cybercolleagues, I would like to thank you all for input ,some serious, some humerous, most very helpful all professionally concerned. Our researchers are pulling the journals mentioned and once scanned I will share the bibliography with y'all. It is not an easy subject to find good information on. By all sharing as you have this list will be and is a credit to the museum community. Better still it's free! As a conservation intern and also married to a nurse, I learned one does have to be carefull when opening medical bags accessioned in collections. Tetanus shots are a must. Sharp rusty instruments ,old syringes and just old dirt and dust requires the caution of wearing good nitrile gloves ( latex tear too easily) and at least a mist or dust mask. Some like myself are allergy prone to dusts and molds. While interning I heard a story about a Mom and daughter who'd contracted Scarlet Fever through handling old clothing. I went through that experience as a child and was quarantined to a dismal hospital ward it was no fun. All life's lessons are cues which ring alarm bells ,especially in the Conservation field. I believe in working safely and caring for the staff around me and that means our handlers who are first in line when they pickup these items from well meaning donors. It is better to slow down and research the possibilities if it is possible to contract a virus thast may lay dormant ( if there is such a possibility) before handling and treating the artifact. My internship with David Harvey at Colonial Williamsburg was the best one could have . There in the metals lab when working on the Cartwright woodwork tool collection I learned about historical trace. On a wooden marking gauge I found a thumbprint in the varnish because I happened to have examined the piece under the microscope. I discussed it with my "teacher" and cleaned gently around the print and noted it in my condition report. Perhaps it was the original cabinetmaker's? How exciting and so that taught me not to just start cleaning an object but to thoroughly examine what is first obvious and then search for more intimate detail. We are taught to draw every scratch and depression found on the overall object's surface, when beginning the career of Conservator. I had excellent training and of course the luxury of time not always afforded when there is the "exhibit deadline " to meet. When I train my growing team of volunteers in my lab from ages 15 to 70 who have never done conservation, I teach them the art of seeing and what I learned about "Historical Trace" before they are permitted hands-on artifacts. To address the concerns from a few who aren't conservators about the blood on a firearm . No attempt will be made to remove it ,it is part of that weapon's history as it travelled through the Civil War. A way will be found to apply a coating so that it will not disintegrate and for me to ascertain that anyone handling the artifact in the future is not at risk. Thanks for letting me share this with you and thank you again for your eager replies. Sincerely. Len Hambleton -Chief Conservator N.C.Museum of History Raleigh N.C.