Exhibition lighting for natural history collections

Linda Thomas <llthomas [at] amherst__edu> writes

>We are in the process of having some much-needed renovations made to
>our existing exhibit lighting.
>...
>My question is: Does anyone have any documented info. on recommended
>light and UV levels for 1) bone, 2) feather, 3) the light sensitive
>minerals, and 4) fossils, including subfossils.

I haven't seen anything specific on light levels for dry natural
science specimens but I presume you would be using same
international guidelines as used for museum objects.

In fact in Thomson's 'The Museum Environment' maximum level
recommended for "most natural history exhibits, including botanical
specimens, fur and feathers is 50LUX". Light level for leather,
horn, bone and ivory is recommended at 150LUX maximum.

Recommended UV level for sensitive material at 50LUX is generally
30microwatts/lumen and for material at 150LUX it is
50microwatts/lumen.

Sue Valis
Conservator (Natural Science)
Materials Conservation Division
Australian Museum
6 College Street
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:74
                 Distributed: Thursday, March 18, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-74-010
                                  ***