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Would "encapsulation" in a nitrogen filled,
transparent barrier film bag be a useful solution to this problem.
The lack of oxygen in the package would slow
down degradation, the barrier film would provide excellent physical protection,
and the artifacts and their associated tags could be separated, encapsulated in
mylar or treated if necessary, and then packed in the same sealed
bag.
I've always thought that the security from
maintaining separate groupings was an appealing part of
anoxic packaging.
js
Jerry Shiner
Keepsafe Systems / Microclimate
Technologies International
Supplies and Solutions for Microclimate and
Oxygen-free display and storage
www.keepsafe.ca www.microclimate.ca 1 800
683-4696
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 10:23
AM
Subject: Re: Preserving historic tags
& labels in situ
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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