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Nancy, this is an interesting challenge.
I would approach the question on a case-by-case, or maybe group-by-group
basis. The goal, which I think you have expressed, is to keep preserving
both the objects and their tags, keeping them together where
possible. First see if any items or groups can be safely stored
together. Then look for ways to temporarily separate objects and labels to
make an archival support or connection. For example, you might be able to
remove a paper label, encapsulate it in mylar and reattach it with string.
Maybe in other cases you can make storage supports with a separate compartment
for the label. As a last resort, separate the labels and keep them in the object
files. In all cases, you should do good photographs of the object with the
label -- this may mean an overall shot and a close up -- close enough to
identify the object and read the text.
I'd be interested to hear what others think and also about
what you decide to do. It sounds like a very interesting
collection.
Deborah Lee Trupin
Textile
Conservator
New York State Office of Parks,
Recreation and Historic Preservation
Bureau of Historic Sites
Peebles
Island
PO Box 219
Waterford, NY 12188 USA
1 - 518 - 237 - 8643 ext. 3241
From: Textile
Conservators [mailto:TEXCONS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Packer,
Nancy
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:17 PM
To:
TEXCONS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Preserving historic tags &
labels in situ
I would appreciate the list’s
thoughts on a dilemma that we are facing with several new acquisitions. We
have recently acquired a large number of historic textiles, garments, and
related materials (palm fans, wooden textile beaters, etc.) from a defunct
museum collection that was formed in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. Many of the items in this collection, which was
designed to introduce Philadelphia’s entrepreneurs to the range of raw and
manufactured materials available around the world, have historic tags or
labels indicating such information as place of origin, cost of production,
manufacturing details, etc.
My question is regarding whether
or not these tags should be preserved IN PLACE, or if it is preferable that
they should be removed and stored in a mylar envelope or similar enclosure
(appropriately numbered) in the accession file for preservation of this
information. In most cases, I should mention, these tags and labels are not
very securely attached to the objects (where the attachment is more or less
permanent, we would not remove them), and the tags themselves are brittle and
discolored. I’ll cite a few specific examples to give you an idea of the
situation: 1)a group of Philippine pina cloth samples with paper tags
indicating their town of origin and collection date pinned with straight pins
to the samples (all tags discolored, some creased and brittle); 2) a number of
heavy wooden cloth beaters with paper tags indicating origin on string looped
around the handles of the beaters – again tags are discolored &
embrittled, and the beaters tend to roll, even in a custom-made storage box,
thus threatening to bend and/or break the attached tags; 3) a wooden and woven
coir Chinese clog (pre-1895) with a brittle string & paper tag recording
origin & sale price looped around the also-brittle coir
upper.
The historic value of these
textiles obviously is tied closely to the documentation that these tags and
labels provide, and I hesitate to separate the two. At the same time, this
documentary evidence seems to be put at risk by leaving these tags in place,
where they are not firmly affixed; in addition, the acidic nature of these
tags represents a danger to the long-term preservation of the textiles
themselves. I would appreciate listmembers’ thoughts on how best we can
balance these seemingly contradictory preservation demands.
Nancy E.
Packer
Collections
Curator
The Design
Center at
Philadelphia
University
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