Cotton gloves

Paul Green <p.r.green [at] leeds__ac__uk> writes

>A colleague of mine recently visited the States and was given some
>lint-free cotton gloves with finger grips to handle manuscript
>material. He found these much better than ordinary lint-free cotton
>gloves or latex rubber gloves. However, we have not been able to
>source these in the UK. Can anyone give us the name and address of a
>supplier in the States or a UK distributor?

The use of cotton gloves to handle any object is fraught with
various dangers such as snagging part of the objects surface or its
applied decorative components or more importantly wicking ones
perspiration directly onto the objects surface. Cotton is a fiber
and its nature is to act as a bi-directional wick--from your hand
onto the object or vice versa.

Latex gloves can cause an allergic skin reaction with some
individuals sometimes on contact and sometimes over a long period of
exposure. They will not act as a wick nor will they snag.

Nitrile gloves do not, as far as I am aware, cause any allergic
reactions  and they do not act as a wick nor do they snag.

Wearing latex or nitrile gloves can be made more comfortable by
using cotton inserts.

Jim Moss


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:8
                 Distributed: Wednesday, July 24, 2002
                        Message Id: cdl-16-8-007
                                  ***