RE: Eskimo garment made of sea mammal gut

["Njaa, Rebekah" <rebekah.njaa@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello Paul,

I recieved this from texcons.  Thought you might have some suggestions.  -R

> ----------
> From: 	Anke Weidner[SMTP:textasia@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 	Sunday, February 13, 2000 12:20 PM
> To: 	TEXCONS@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: 	Eskimo garment made of sea mammal gut
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> I am a student of conservation studies specialising in textiles and
> leather at the University of Cologne. For my diploma thesis I chose the
> subject: The problems of conservation of ethnological objects made of gut
> taking the example of a raincoat of the Inuit.
> 
> Being part of a significant and comprehensive collection of gut clothes in
> the Ethnological Museum Berlin this gut parka for an adult is dated to the
> first half of the 19th century. It was manufactured from vertical strips
> of gut, has a hood and the only decoration are slim strips of seal leather
> on the sleeve seam, the lower seam on the hood opening. It originates
> either from Labrador or from north-west Alaska and the Bering Strait
> respectively. 
> 
> In the course of conservation measurements in the 1970ies tears and
> missing spots in the material were underlayed with extruded collagen and
> roughly fixed with a thick linen thread. Additionally the object's brittle
> structure was treated with a wax-like lubricant to restore the flexibility
> permanently. After 30 years the object is now in a serious condition. The
> lubricant had changed the original properties in a negative way. The
> material appears oily, transparent, stiff, hard and with a sticky surface.
> 
> 
> My task is on the one hand the investigation of the lubricant's mixture
> and solubility and on the other hand to develop a practical method to
> remove the lubricant from the gut. The mends shall be evaluated and a
> proper method to secure the fragile edges be developed too. Experiments
> concerning possible adhesives will be carried out on dummies.
> 
> There are several topics I would like to learn about from the perspective
> of your institutions:
> 
> - storing conditions of adequate objects, especially concerning
> temperature and relative humidity 
> 
> - examples of a treatment with a lubricant
> 
> - aging reaction of the applied substances in the physical and chemical
> sense
> 
> - comparable specimens to the Berlin gut parka
> 
> - examples for original Eskimo repairs
> 
> - experiences with storage in cold storage rooms
> 
>  
> 
> I would be happy to receive any comments, ideas, etc. 
> 
> If you like to contact me on my private e-mail address: textasia@xxxxxxx
> 
>  
> 
>