Medical residues

We have received a collection of a traveling doctor/side show, some
of the bottles contain the original contents.  Bottles are full or
partially full of powders, liquids, or residues; none labeled with
exact contents.  The donor wants the collection 'exhibited' at some
point.  We are handling the items with gloves and wearing dust
masks.  Since we do not know what we have we cannot really vacuum or
clean dust from the surfaces.  How has this problem been dealt with
by other repositories?  Are the contents usually removed and
disposed of?  Are they retained?  What if they are volatile? Thanks
for any info.

Ramona Duncan-Huse
Head of Conservation
Indiana Historical Society
450 W. Ohio Street
Indianapolis IN 46202
317-234-0093

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:23
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 5, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-23-012
                                  ***