Oak tree in exhibit

I am trying to gather good arguments to use in a discussion
regarding oak in exhibitions. The curator at my museum would very
much like to put a whole oak tree into an exhibit and is convinced
that the information I give him regarding use of oak in showcases,
etc. can not be transferred to this type of use of oak. He might be
right, but I would like to be sure.

The exhibit area is an approximately 220 square meter / 780 cubic
meter room with insufficient ventilation. There is a double door in
one end of the room that is wide open during opening hours,
otherwise closed. The exhibit will contain maritime objects of all
types of materials (also archaeological), mostly in showcases, but
also objects and paintings which will not be enclosed.

The oak tree in question will have to be chopped during
February/March and will not have time to be cured before being
mounted in the exhibit. The rest of the exhibit will go up during
the second half of 2004.

I am worried about the effects of the oaks acetic acid on the
objects on display. The questions that I ask myself are: Can the
objects be at risk from the trees acids even if they are buffered in
showcases made of other materials? Is the room big enough to
disperse/dilute any acid in the air so that the insufficient
ventilation can handle it and not create pockets of higher levels?
In a room this size does it matter if I move all susceptible objects
as far away as possible (which the designer probably won't let me do
anyway)?

If you have any thoughts or hard facts that you think I can use in
my discussions with the curator I would be very grateful to hear
them (even if he's right and I'm wrong).

Tanja Reed


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:47
                 Distributed: Friday, December 19, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-47-011
                                  ***