Preservation of an ammonal mine

Mark Vine <100436.3447 [at] compuserve__com> writes

>I am posing this enquiry on behalf of a bomb disposal expert
>colleague without access to the DistList.
>
>Has anyone experience in the preservation of 1st World War ammonal
>mines or allied materials? The mine in question was recently removed
>from a deep and extremely wet trench, with the heavily packed and
>padded-out explosive contents removed.
>
>The question posed is what might be used to preserve the now
>dried-out macintosh material (very similar to the linen backing
>sometimes found backing old maps).

While working on an internship at the Manitoba Museum of Man and
Nature 1999-2000, I conducted a project on a Halkett Inflatable
Rubber boat made from Mackintosh fabric c. 1840. The boat was in
poor condition and the fabric had become rock hard and we were
unable to unfold it. I examined the history of mackintosh fabric
among other things, and then conservation treatments and future care
and storage of the boat to prevent further deterioration of the
Mackintosh fabric. I would be happy to send you a copy of the
project, preferably on CD ROM (it is in MS word format), as the
paper copies are far too costly for me to reproduce and then mail
away. In the project, I also have a list of contact names and email
address numbers etc and a bibliography that helped me and provided
information on the subject at hand. Most of my references are people
working for the National Museums of Scotland as they have the only
other Halkett Inflatable Rubber Boat known to exist. I also did a
presentation on the paper at the Canadian Association of
Conservation Conference in Halifax in May of this year and there is
a very short summary at <URL:http://www.cac-accr.ca>. If you are
interested then let me know and I will make a copy for you and send
it.

Heather Place
Conservator
The Winnipeg Art Gallery
300 Memorial Boulevard
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3C 1V1
204-786-6641, ext 254
Fax: 204-788-4998


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:14
                  Distributed: Friday, August 3, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-14-004
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