Conservation of drums

Anne I'Ons at the Australian War Memorial has asked me to pass on a
question about the conservation and composition of drums (the boom boom
type). The AWM has a collection of historic drums dating from at least
the 1st World War, some of which have been stored with tension on the
skins, and which are now splitting.

Can anyone help Anne with information about the type of leather used for
drums, and any conservation hints?

Bruce Ford
National Gallery of Australia

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                   Conservation DistList Instance 8:8
                  Distributed: Tuesday, July 19, 1994
                        Message Id: cdl-8-8-016
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