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Re: preservation question



Good question.  I can't tell you from any position as a trained conservator,
but I can tell you what I might have done when I worked as a curator in a
historical museum where I didn't have the services of a conservator to help
me.

The metal box sounds like good storage to me.  It is preventing the lei from
contaminating anything else it is stored near, and I don't think metal has
any adverse effect on wood as long as both are kept dry.  The container
doesn't let the wood "off gas," but at the same time, the sealed container
is probably what is helping preserve the scent.  Assuming the lei only, and
not the box itself, is what is of interest to you, maybe you should just put
it in a fresh (unrusted) metal box.  If you're also interested in the
original box, store it separately.

What I would be more concerned about is the possibility of the lei chipping
and breaking as it rattles around in the box.  To prevent that, how about a
soft bed of batting (like you find at quilt shops; I'd suggest polyester,
rather than cotton) in the bottom of the tin.

Catherine Bruck
University Archivist
Illinois Institute of Technology
Paul V. Galvin Library
35 W. 33rd St.
Chicago, IL  60616
312/567-6840
FAX 312/567-5318
bruck@iit.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU]On
Behalf Of Margaret Gonsalves
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 2:31 PM
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
Subject: preservation question


Oh Wise and Wonderful Listserv Colleagues!

I am the Archival Project Assistant at Springfield College in Springfield,
MA.and I need to ask your advice on an item that is part of a collection
from
our Class of 1931 memorabilia items. It is a lei [yes, you read correctly]
made
of sandalwood. It is still very aromatic and, I am assuming, still holds a
lot
of sandalwood oil. It is currently in a metal tin, this is how it was
presented
by the owner [a wife of an alum] to the college. We do not intend to get rid
of
it but I would like to know the best way you would suggest it can be stored
here. I have contacted NEDCC who referred me to a museum involved in
preservation of various materials, but have not gotten a response from them
as
yet.

I am mainly concerned with the sandalwood oils seeping through to other
records.
I would continue to house the lei in its current tin but the tin is
beginning to
rust.

Any suggestions or referrals you can offer will be greatly appreciated.
Please
respond off list.

 Thank you,
 Maggi Gonsalves
 Archival Project Assistant,
 Photographic Digitization Project
 Springfield College
 Springfield, MA 01109

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