Deborah,
I don't know how much help this will be (personally I think that exploring exemptions for historic textiles from contemporary fireproofing is probably the best route), but I would also look into the current fire suppression systems and make sure that they are up to date and not blocked by the curtain (maybe that one was obvious).
While hanging a modern weaving in a school I found that every fire Marshall I talked to had a different take on the subject. Ultimately what it came down to in our case was, that as the weaving was to hang in a private school, that the head of the school had final say. While certain school administrators did balk (those involved with insurance perhaps), we presented the reasons not to fireproof the piece and got an OK. No fire Marshall has commented or forced the school to do otherwise at this point (over a year ago).
Good luck,
Denise Migdail
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah Bede
Sent: Aug 15, 2007 2:51 PM
To: TEXCONS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: fire regulations
I’m working with the Vermont Painted Theater
Curtain project, and our current project is a distemper on muslin curtain
from the early 1930’s. The town intends to hang the curtain in the
Town Hall, where it has been stored for many years, after treatment. This
happens by coincidence to be in my town, in New Hampshire. We have a
particularly difficult Fire Marshall who is insisting that the curtain be
fireproofed. I know nothing about fire regulations, and we need some supporting
documentation to help us refute his ruling. Can anyone tell me if there are
any regulations or other rules that exempt historic textiles from regular fire
codes? I’m assuming fire regulations are on a state level,
but information about any state would be helpful. And anyone’s
experience with this situation would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Deborah
Bede
Stillwater
Textile Conservation Studio, LLC
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