I've never heard that about the flare, but costumes should have some
covering to keep out dust, muslin or tyvek are usually used over a whole
rack, individual coverings are impractical. In the case of fire coverings
could also minimize smoke damage and that would be their primary benefit as
I think that is where a whole lot of damage comes in. If muslin goes up in
flames, the costume most likely would light up also, they are after all
primarily natural fabrics.

Elizabeth Walton
MA costume studies, NYU

At 11:12 AM 3/6/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Back in October, I attended a NIST workshop on post-fire salvage, and fire
>disaster planning.  There was discussion about putting muslin or cotton bags
>over costumes to protect them from fire - just the extra layer would help in
>case of a fire.  But what I remember (vaguely, because there were other
>things going on, and I momentarily got distracted) was the idea that the
>muslin bags would burn so quickly, that the fire would flare up and then die
>away, not having anything else to burn.  I was talking about this with my
>boss, who wondered if this meant the now unprotected costume would be
>damaged by the muslin bag igniting on the costume hanging next to it.
>
>Anyway, what I'm trying to ask in an exceedingly unfocused way is, can
>somebody give me the true and complete poop on covering costumes with muslin
>bags?
>
>Genevieve Ellerbee
>Associate Registrar
>Daughters of the American Revolution Museum
>Washington, D.C.
>
>=========================================================
>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).
>

=========================================================
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).