AIC has extended the submission deadline for call for papers, pre-sessions, and workshops to September 23, 2016
We want to thank everyone who has submitted their abstract or proposal in advance of our September 12, 2016 deadline. The number of workshop proposals received has already surpassed the number accepted by this time last year!
We have also heard from many who feel that they can’t make the previously announced deadline, and we want to make sure that the programming provided at the 45th Annual Meeting in Chicago is the most inclusive and comprehensive possible. To further that goal, we are extending the deadline to 11:59 p.m. on September 23, 2016. However, review of completed abstracts and workshop proposals will start on September 12, 2016. Please submit your materials by the earliest date possible to provide reviewers with enough time to consider your submission.
For more information on the theme of the Annual Meeting, the different types of programing and how to submit, please visit the Annual Meeting webpage. If you are ready to submit your abstract, pre-session, or workshop proposal please follow the links below to submit directly to our online system:
We look forward to seeing your abstract or proposal and to welcoming you to Chicago! Questions?
For questions regarding abstracts, contact Ruth Seyler at annualmeeting@conservation-us.org.
All inquiries related to workshops must be addressed to Sarah Saetren at courses@conservation-us.org.
There are only 2 weeks left to submit specialty, joint, and pre-session papers.
We would like to remind you that Monday, September 12, 2016, is the deadline to submit your 500-word maximum paper abstracts, workshop proposals, and pre-session programming.
Visit our website to learn more about our 2017 Annual Meeting’s theme, specialty session call, and how to submit for posters, pre-sessions, and workshops. Be part of the conversation on “Treatment 2017: Innovation in Conservation and Collection Care” in Chicago during AIC’s 45th Annual Meeting, from May 28 through June 1, 2017.
Whether item- or collection-level, preventive or interventive, treatment remains central to preserving cultural heritage collections. The design and implementation of an ethical and sound conservation treatment, even the ultimate decision of no treatment at all, begin before its commencement and the consequences continue well beyond its completion.
We are soliciting papers that explore various facets of conservation treatments and collection care programs intended to prolong the lifetime of cultural property. Topics may include, but are not limited to, a reconsideration of historic procedures no longer in practice, cutting edge technologies employed in treatments, effective preventive conservation or collection care steps that reduce the necessity or extent of interventive treatments, the incorporation of sustainability into conservation treatments, or innovations in treatment design, execution, and documentation.
Learn more about the Annual Meeting at www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting, and visit often as information is being added on a regular basis.
If you have any questions, please contact Ruth Seyler at annualmeeting@conservation-us.org.
The deadline for submission of papers for specialty, joint, and pre-sessions is just around the corner!
We would like to remind you that there are only 3 weeks left to submit your 500-word maximum paper abstracts, workshop proposals, and pre-session programming. The deadline is Monday, September 12, 2016.
Visit our website to find new information about our 2017 Annual Meeting’s theme, specialty session call, and how to submit for posters, pre-sessions, and workshops. Be part of the conversation on “Treatment 2017: Innovation in Conservation and Collection Care” in Chicago during AIC’s 45th Annual Meeting, from May 28 through June 1, 2017.
Whether item- or collection-level, preventive or interventive, treatment remains central to preserving cultural heritage collections. The design and implementation of an ethical and sound conservation treatment, even the ultimate decision of no treatment at all, begin before its commencement and the consequences continue well beyond its completion.
We are soliciting papers that explore various facets of conservation treatments and collection care programs intended to prolong the lifetime of cultural property. Topics may include, but are not limited to, a reconsideration of historic procedures no longer in practice, cutting edge technologies employed in treatments, effective preventive conservation or collection care steps that reduce the necessity or extent of interventive treatments, the incorporation of sustainability into conservation treatments, or innovations in treatment design, execution, and documentation.
Learn more about the Annual Meeting at www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting, and visit regularly as more updated information and sub-themes will be added over the summer.
If you have any questions, please contact Ruth Seyler at rseyler@conservation-us.org
The Emerging Conservation Professional’s Network (ECPN) is excited to announce that we will be hosting a Poster Session Lightning Round during AIC’s 45th Annual Meeting next year in Chicago. This session will highlight the contributions of ECPs who are accepted to the Annual Meeting Poster Session, providing a fun and informal platform for you to share your work with ECPs and established conservators alike. Participants will give a very short presentation—essentially an “elevator pitch”—that highlights the contents of their poster with an opportunity to field questions from colleagues.
Posters are an excellent way to participate in the Annual Meeting and present research, treatment projects, new tools, and innovative techniques in a concise format; we encourage you to submit an abstract! Once final selections are made by the Poster Session Committee, ECPN will put out a call for participants.
In the meantime, submit your Poster Session abstracts by the September 12 deadline using AIC’s submission portal: http://www.conservation-us.org/annual-meeting/call-for-submissions#.V6ytE036uig
In a presentation related to the Disaster theme of the conference, speakers Colford and Christie spoke of the recovery of flood damaged photographic collections of the Peterboro Municipal Archives, in Ontario in 2004. The area wide disaster created such demands on affected infrastructure that the response began two weeks after the peak flood, which led to a decision to freeze all the of works, including glass plates and film negatives as other methods of drying had not been possible. The PMA participated in a CCI risk assessment which reported back with recommendations to keep all film stabilized in freezers for continued cold storage, and to identify cellulose acetate negatives as a specific priority for treatment due to their autocatalytic behavior, leading to eventual change and loss of values.
The authors, looking to Pavelka & Naipavel-Heidushke’s paper on successful treatment and separation of gelatin image layer from acetate support, called out Pavelka’s suggestion that insurance companies might provide financial assistance for treatment in their coverage. Following the protocol suggested in the article, the authors proceeded and achieved inconsistent results. They noted the process per negative could take up to ninety minutes, resulting in only four negatives treated over two days, They cited concerns of prolonged exposure of the negative to solvents, yet found it hard to keep solvent from evaporating, which could induce curl and tensions while drying. A new question developed, what was the difference between the article’s case studies vs. theirs? An obvious variable was the fact that these items had been frozen. Whether or not this actually factored into the negatives’ behavior. Consulting further with Greg Hill (currently of the Canadian Conservation Institute) & Gayle McIntyre (Sir Sandford Fleming College), the protocol was revised to include the following steps, which helped increase the reliability of the method across different negatives: Silver gelatin pellicle being separated from acetate support
1. Remove material by cutting away some of the lip/edge of the negative to allow ingress of solvent
2. Prewet the negative using sequential solvents
3. Use visual and tactile clues to determine the moment of separation (need slide 3.1, 3.2.) not a fixed amount of time
4. If the gelatin is still disrupted, reshape while it is still wetted using gentle prodding (with brushes on silicon release Mylar*) to lay flat before drying completely. The unsupported pellicle, thin as tissue, can be left to release final residues of solvent in a non-stick drying pack in fume hood to offgas.
(More images of these steps available in the downloadable Kiss Your Acetate Goodbye images of layer separation, pdf file kindly provided by the speakers.)
The images, now supported on Mylar sheets, were digitized, and the storage solution after treatment includes use of polypropylene sleeves in a clamshell binder. In an added benefit, the items are no longer taking up space in cold storage. The authors report that after eight years, the images appear unchanged in these conditions. While having a positive outcome, the speakers note that is still a lengthy process involving time and material costs, requiring trained professionals. This technique may not be a catchall for all collections, but for prioritized ones, it can be effective management tool for severely decaying negatives.
*Additional note: Silicon tip tools may also be useful here. See related content from 2016 BPG Tips Session on Silicon Shapers, as found in art supply stores today among the brush selections for working thick paints, in the BPG wiki.
Rebecca Summerour presented on-going technical analysis of two mid-twentieth century Southwestern Nigeria Yoruba egungun masquerade ensembles from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAA). Her co-author and supervisor is Dana Moffett, Object conservator at the NMAA. We were introduced to egunguns with images of these multi-layered assemblages as they are worn in ceremony, and mounted for displayed. Egungun invoke honor, and embody lineage ancestors during yearly festivals. Rebecca is working not only to analyze the varied materials used in their fabrication; she also is investigating their cultural context and the values placed on textiles in Yoruba culture through consultations with Yoruba scholars. She explored the origins of the materials used, and their importance as elements of the whole. These egunguns were collected with minimal provenience. (Image from Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, africa.si.edu)
Egunguns consist of multiple layers of colorful, mostly commercial, pieced fabric lappets with serrated edges over a wooden support that “swirl when danced.” Egunguns represent individual or collective ancestors. The ensembles are not made for a specific dancer. They are worn for generations and are repaired before each use. During repairs materials may be added or removed, making it difficult to pinpoint a date. Some of the components are pre-assembled by market tailors and later incorporated into the assemblage and sanctified. A striped fabric (knotted or crochet) sits at center, obscuring the face of the wearer, but allows him to see. The egungun interiors are lined with handwoven oke, a highly valued prestige fabric. Oke is also used for burial shrouds, which Rebecca pointed out is a symbolic link to the ancestors who are invoked during performances in the egungun. The color red is used extensively to divert evil. Rebecca identified highly valued velvets, needle point, ecclesiastical textiles, Europe satins and cotton prints made expressly for the African market, and Adeara Uraba, a Yoruba indigo cloth that is tie dyed or patterned with a starch resist. Also present were metal pin back political buttons.
Rebecca has examined over 600 different textiles, many of them are African wax (or fancy prints) designed in Europe and produced in Manchester England and Holland to imitate late nineteenth century Indonesian batiks. After decolonization similar prints were manufactured in Africa and East Asia. Rebecca contacted the Manchester School of Art ABC Archive, which has many examples of these fabrics. Initially this gave her great hope of tracing some of the manufacturers of the prints and locking in dates of manufacture, but she was informed that only by chance would one find a match. The prints are too similar to easily identify. She mentioned it as an opportunity for her future study.
Technical analysis included X-radiography, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and polarized light microscopy, of the various materials present such as wood, cotton, rayon, pitch, adhesives, metal, elastomeric films, PVC and other plastics.
Rebecca has future research trips planned for this summer and will see eleven other engunguns. She is working to identify the materials in these egungun to construct a time line of what materials were available in Nigeria in the twentieth century. She feels that the whole story will never be know as there are limits to the amount of research that can be carried out, and mid twentieth century fabric trade was complex. The goals of her study are to contribute to the overall “biographies” of these objects, inform future plans for the costumes long-term care, and expand on the available published studies.
Credit: Sarah Stauderman
This pre-session was a joint meeting between conservation professionals and facilities engineers, architects, and administrators who belong to the International Association of Museum Facility Administrators. The topic of the day was how to foster a collegial and collaborative working relationship between conservation and facilities staff so together we can preserve collections with well-managed storage and exhibition facilities. The day was structured in three sections, each with a panel of experts and a tabletop exercise. The three of us attended, and agreed to blog together as the day was jam-packed with inspiration and useful tips. We were hoping to learn strategies for building relationships with our facilities managers, including developing common language, shared understanding of goals, and respecting each other’s areas of expertise.
The first session, Share the Risk: Collaborative approaches to facilities construction, renovation, and operation was moderated by Joelle Wickens, (Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library). Key takeaways from this session were that no one person owns a facilities problem, and monthly meetings, meaningful and well-planned monthly meetings, are a good strategy for building relationships that successfully address the inevitable problems. Out of work time is also important…sharing a beer with each other was mentioned throughout the day as a way to break down those silo walls. Image courtesy of P. Anderson
Panelists included Jack Plumb (National Library of Scotland), John Castle and Lois Price (Winterthur), Rob Waller (Protect Heritage Corp), and Deborah Potter (Tate). One of Jack’s tips was to build in an orientation for new contractors with collections care to explain the local policies and behavior expectations that might be different from one jobsite to another. Jack also has a very interesting program for doing temperature and humidity mapping research using students from Heriot Watt University doing their dissertations. I wanted to know more about this program, and how to find students that are interested in this work!
Lois Price and John Castle got an NEH Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections grant to improve their wireless building management system, and in the process, found that the working relationships between conservation and facilities staff, and each assumptions made about each other, were not so productive. So they set about doing a qualitative survey of their peers across the world, and they reported the results to us. The data set is rich, with lots of variable possible including institutional budget, frequency of joint meetings, rate of success, and decision-making rights. Their conclusions, while not statistical, point toward the fact that nothing can substitute for a good team, and the meeting more frequently can cure a number of long-standing challenges. For the skeptic who says “More meetings? I ain’t going to no more stinkin’ meetings” one merely has to say, “Let’s get you into the right meetings!”
Rob Waller talked about prioritizing different risks to collections, focusing on clearly defined goals. He explained the importance of filtering what falls under facilities managers’ ability to control. He reiterated that in many cases, the 80/20 rule applies: 20% of the risks contribute to 80% or more of the total risk, so these should be prioritized if at all possible.
Deborah Potter shared Tate’s collaborative approach to facilities planning for six sites, 72,000 works of art and a million library and archive materials. In debriefs from system failures, they discuss the impact on the collection, and approach how to prevent it from happening again, also taking a risk-based approach to collections care. Their team includes registrars, collections,, communications, and facilities staff. With a “green vision” aiming to reduce carbon emissions by 15%, they are embarking on an ambitious but doable program including energy plant and HVAC controls replacement, LED lighting, solar panels. Other sustainability initiatives include waste management, recycling, up-cycling, a flower meadow, and beekeeping! They’re not the only ones keeping bees…we found these on the roof just outside the door of the pre-session room! Image courtesy of P. Anderson
This first session ended with a tabletop exercise in which temperature and humidity parameters for an incoming loan challenge our fictitious small institution, stemming from poorly written loan agreement, lack of historical data, and lack of communication between the director and the staff. Of course we sorted it all out in 15 minutes, but with the understanding that these problems are ongoing and are exacerbated by the fact that we have no industry standards for libraries, museums and archives. One group noted that such agreements can be used as leverage to make needed upgrades.
The second session, Share the Planning: Collaborative approaches to emergency management, was moderated by Rebecca Fifield, Chair, AIC Collections Care Network, and Head of Collection Management, Special Collections at New York Public Library Image courtesy of P. Anderson
Collection Emergency Plans at Museum Victoria
Maryanne McCubbin, head of Strategic Collection Management for the Museum Victoria, presented the approach they have to managing risks in the multiple museum buildings and storage facilities where they house over 17 million state collection items. Citing recent floods that have tested their plan and preparedness, she emphasized how crucial it is for collections staff to communicate accurately and often with facilities and provide a liaison with facilities as well as emergency (first) responders (fire, police, authorities). She also commented on an often overlooked approach to managing risks, or inherent dangers, within a collection, such as hazardous substances in collections.
She stressed that a plan should be thorough yet brief. It can have appendices that provide more specific and detailed outlined activities for departments. However the plan should be developed through extensive negotiations with facilities, conservation and security. She cited a couple pitfalls for any great plan: failure to regularly induct new hires to the plan, especially in departments with high-turnover such as facilities and security; keeping contact information for key personnel up to date; reviewing incident reports to improve your plan; and practice!
The Lone Responder: Building an Emergency team with limited resources
Laura Hortz Stanton, Executive director of Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA), discussed how crucial it is for small historic house museum, societies and municipal museums with limited staff and resources to connect with their local emergency management personnel. Reaching out to your local fire or police is important so they can become familiar with the building(s) as well as the contents, and key staff members. They can even review your emergency response plans and provide recommendations. Another key point was the importance of being prepared for the recovery after a disaster. “Who you gonna call?” A small museum that does not have a conservation and/or collections staff needs to keep an up-to-date contact list for local or regional collections professionals that can respond quickly to a call for assistance after a disaster of any size. She pointed out resources available online to help develop plans, including online templates and training, opportunities to benefit from mutual aid memberships in your state, local assistance networks, as well as AIC’s National Heritage Responders (NHR, formerly AIC-CERT). The majority of these links can be found on AIC’s website.
http://www.conservation-us.org/emergencies
NFPA Codes for Cultural Heritage Institutions
Nick Artim of Heritage Protection Group was not able to attend the session as scheduled. He did participate in the half day pre-conference session on Saturday titled Choosing and Implementing a Fire Suppression System for a Collecting Institution. (AIC Blog Link http://tinyurl.com/hhdtv6z) For more information regarding Codes and Standards for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) see links provided at the end of this blog post.
The session concluded with a tabletop exercise titled An 88-year old dam and a hurricane on the way! Teams were tasked with emergency planning for the fictional Decoy Museum, a small museum located on the coast of Maryland with a history of flooding. The museum is down river from an 88 year old dam and a hurricane is quickly approaching. Teams were shown a photograph of the exterior of the building and it’s proximity to the water, history of the site as it has fared in previous storms, images of the interior and a description of the collection. We were also told that our emergency plan is out of date and the only copy stored on a computer. Using the expertise at our individual tables we were asked to review our emergency preparedness and how we would respond in our respective roles. As the clock counted down we were provided with updates on storm progress, a status report on rising flood waters, and given a 24 hour evacuation notice to see how circumstances would affect our strategies.
Although initial discussions were focused on collections, most teams concluded that the safety of the public and staff came first, followed by securing collection data (hard drives/ records), securing the building, and initiating organization for return and recovery. Two key takeaways from the exercise included a discussion around FEMA’s Incident Command Structure and the concept of “dead” building. ICS is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response. ICS offers flexibility to respond to small to large incidents, defining key roles to be filled rather than strictly identifying individuals. “Dead” building is a term used by facilities professionals to describe a full building shutdown and disconnection from utilities. As part of your plan it is important to know how long it will take to shut down your building as well as bring it back online.
The third session, Share the Responsibility: Collaborative approaches to selecting appropriate environmental guidelines, was moderated by Patricia Silence, Director of Preventive Conservation, Colonial Williamsburg. Image courtesy of P. Anderson
Select Guidelines and Standards
Selecting guidelines and standards can’t be boiled down to just a number because it depends on factors such as the building envelope, outside air temperatures, HVAC equipment, climate, etc. and how well their interaction matches capability of building and environment. The speakers discussed using guidelines and not standards as a basis for procedures and policies, and how to maintain the notion that the indoor environment is a fundamental component to preservation of collection. Other key points made by this panel included:
Consistent monitoring leads to meaningful conversations
Environmental control includes lighting, ventilation, and pest control in addition to temperature and RH
Customized specifications should be developed for each institution and collection, looking for “parameters in lieu of more science” and reinforcing the point that “70/50 is no longer an appropriate, practical, sustainable, or useful set-point.”
In the aftermath of the major earthquake that struck the Port-au-Prince region of Haiti in 2010, the Smithsonian Institutional Haiti Cultural Recovery Project was formed in partnership with the government of Haiti. The partnership was established to assist local professionals in the recovery of their cultural heritage. The 2010 earthquake was the most destructive event in Haiti’s history and resulted in the collapse of museums and historic structures. Stephanie Hornbeck
The project was launched in 2010 and continues to be highly successful. The efforts began by defining a plan for the partnership, both within the Haitian government and the cultural sector. Funding, provided from both public and private donors including AIC, exceeded three million dollars and was used in finding a facility that would house the 100,000 objects endangered as well as hiring a staff that worked to rehouse, document, and treat this collection.
The Cultural Recovery Center staff included local and international conservators, 54 international conservators and collection managers, and local assistants including 13 full time students. Ideal volunteers came with an open-minded attitude and willingness to help wherever needed.
Conservation priorities were established for the endangered collection, which included West and Central African tradition, Historic Haitian Art, and Contemporary Haitian Art. Some of the artifacts recovered include broken panels and paintings, crumpled and torn paper, broken sculptures, and built heritage in total collapse. Conservation and preservation professionals faced numerous challenges including working in a tropical climate, lack of written and photographic inventories, and a general absence of basic collections care practices. The country has faced decades long problems with discontinuous electricity and many museums didn’t have covered windows. The presenters emphasized that their goal was not to establish priorities within the collection, but to aid in stabilizing and treating the collection items that locals deemed a priority. This commendable attitude proved to be quite difficult at times, as many museums did not have their collections prioritized prior to the earthquake.
Some of the conservation activities included assessing and improving facilities, providing guidance and support during the stabilization of damaged collections, training volunteers and staff to process and stabilize a high volume of damaged works, and treating a selection of culturally important and badly damaged works. The treatment stage included the stabilization of 35,000 works from 20 institutions.
The presenters gave reasons for why stages of the Haiti Cultural Recovery Project were successful or unsuccessful. Less successful situations arose when establishing an agreement with the National Bureau of Ethnology, negotiating with ISPAN for the construction of the conservation center on public property, and managing the transition from one government to another. In addition, the speakers stated that it was difficult to have the Haitian government to be proactive and take ownership of the project. Success was attributed to the core set of values shared between the six types of partners. When translated into the management of the situation, these principles lead to a mutually understanding, which ultimately lead to the success of the project.
Providing assistance in war-torn areas in Syria and Iraq is a complicated matter. The humanitarian crisis has resulted in protests in Syria against the government while a civil war led to the emergence of extremists groups, the most active threat being daesh (ISIS/ISIL). Collateral damage to the area has resulted in the militarization of archaeological sites and historic neighborhoods being obliterated. Organizations such as the ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (CHI) are continually working on meeting the challenges of this cultural heritage crisis. Through diligent monitoring, CSI is able to assist the nations by documenting damage, promoting global awareness, and planning emergency and post-war responses.
LeaAnn Barnes Gordon gave an insightful presentation into the complications of providing international support to local residents and institutions. A highlight of Gordon’s presentation was showcasing CHI’s extensive digital mapping of over 7,800 cultural heritage sites. These maps help to assess the affects on cultural heritage by analyzing different types of damage as well as current and prospective threats. By utilizing satellite imagery, CHI can monitor changes over time in areas that have been damaged by military occupation or that have been illegally excavated. Information is compiled into reports using photographs and textual records of observations; some of these records are currently available online and others are being added regularly.
CHI is standardizing documents and terminology to avoid ambiguity during documentation (e.g. threats vs. disturbances). In the presentation, Gordon provided examples of types of documents utilized including field guide assessment forms, photo-documentation guides, and technical advice in Arabic to assist those currently living/working in Syria and Iraq. In addition, CHI is providing resources and funding for local institutions for efforts such as cleaning and removing debris and erecting temporary structures.
The presentation discussed ongoing CHI projects as well as general challenges faced when attempting to protect cultural heritage in conflict zones. Constant monitoring allows CHI to identify potential damages and share this information with conservation/preservation specialists in the area. These measures help prevent and decrease future damage to culturally rich sites and collections as well as helping to create standardized documents that can be used in other areas of conflict zones.
To learn more about CHI and the important work they are doing, please see: http://www.asor-syrianheritage.org/
We all love the topic of inherent vice. And in this talk, the topic is presented as it relates to basketry, hats, and an exhibition at a museum of Canadian social history.
Sara Serban, Objects Conservator at the Musée McCord in Montreal, spoke about painted and woven spruce root hats she prepared for “Wearing our Identity: The First Peoples Collection,” a ‘permanent’ exhibition planned to last five years (with rotations). The five hats selected for display were made between 1850 and 1920 by weavers from the Northwest coast of Canada, including the Haida and Kwakwaka’wakw cultural groups. In her talk, Sara discussed how the hats’ materials, complex woven structure, past storage and environmental conditions, and previous treatments relate to current condition issues and present treatment challenges.
Sara consulted with Isabel Rorick, a talented Haida weaver (see some of her work here), in order gain a better understanding of the materials and techniques used to make these types of hats. Sitka spruce roots are used for weaving because they grow in long straight lines. Roots are usually 3 to 20 feet in length, but can be as long as 50 feet. After harvesting, the outer layer of bark is removed from the roots by heating with hot coals, causing the bark to peel, and then pulling the roots through a split stick. The root is then split lengthwise one or more times. The interior pithy core is discarded, the inner layer is used for the warp of the hat, and the outer polished layer is used for the weft.
The processed roots are soaked in water and then woven from the top down using a combination of two-and three-strand twining techniques. Three-strand twining is almost always used for added strength at the crown of the hat, and twill twining is used to create geometric patterns at the brim. Continuous warps are used in the beginning, with additional warps added in as needed. A wooden disk form can aid in shaping the hat during weaving. An awl is often used to push the stitches together, and when complete, the hats are watertight.
Sara reviewed condition issues and previous treatments of the hats chosen for exhibition. As can be expected, the older hats are more fragile, and they all have experienced deterioration from low humidity. Darkening of spruce root, from cream-colored to dark brown, as a result of oxidation is a condition issue I was not aware of and seeing this contrast surprised me (compare the historic hat in the image above with the light color of this contemporary spruce root hat made by Rorick). Sara pointed out that while woven spruce root baskets are stored resting on their bottoms, hats are usually stored resting on their brims, and this positioning may cause additional stresses within the hat structure over time. She also noticed that certain areas, like the top disc, top edge (or turn), and crown, are more susceptible to breakage.
The majority of hats had undergone previous treatments (sometimes multiple campaigns), and many of these interventions caused further damage to the root fibers. For example, one hat had been repaired with a thick, raffia-like fiber that caused overall distortions in shape and breakage of adjacent root fibers. Sara questioned whether this type of mending was a traditional repair carried out when the hat was in its source community, or if it was later work. After a survey of spruce root hats in the museum’s collection, she found many had similar repairs, and because of this consistency, the repairs were likely carried out in the museum.
The museum’s conservation records indicate that treatments using methyl cellulose, wheat starch paste, and mixtures of Lascaux 360 HV and 498 HV were carried out in the 1980’s. Additionally, Paraloid B-72 in acetone was previously used to repair at least one hat because wheat starch paste was not found to be strong enough, although it was noted that acetone did affect the black paint on the surface. The common basketry repair technique using twists of Japanese tissue coated in adhesive was found not to be reliable, as these repairs often failed (e.g. the tissue lifted) not long after they were applied.
Examination of these past treatments helped Sara plan her treatment approach. Since the hats did not respond well to the adhesive mends of the past, she created mechanical mends using hair silk to hold the sides of the breaks together. She used a pattern of stitching with horizontal stitches on the outside of the hat and vertical stitches bridging the split on the interior. Prior to mending, she humidified distorted hats in a chamber with water and ethanol and then reshaped the hats, with the aid of carbon rod clamps (one of my favorite conservation tools). Tinted Japanese tissue, with twists to imitate weft strands, was used to fill losses on the hat’s crown. For loss compensation at the top turn of the hat, Sara first made molds of the woven surface using dental molding putty and then cast paper pulp into them. The paper fills were cut to shape, toned, and adhered with wheat starch paste.
After the presentation, an audience member asked about storage recommendations for the hats. Sara responded that ideally each hat would have a custom form with some type of cover that would offer protection from dust but not touch the surface of the hat.
This was one of several talks in the Textile Session that discussed more 3-D textiles (or textile “objects”), which were of particular interest to me as an objects conservator (see Muppets, Egungun,and a Digitally Printed Reproduction Sleeve). Also check out this blogpost about a related talk in the Objects Session: “The Aftermath of Meds: Removing Historic Fabric Tape from Tlingit Basketry” by Caitlin Mahony.
estern Nigeria Yoruba egungun masquerade ensembles from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (NMAA). Her co-author and supervisor is Dana Moffett, Object conservator at the NMAA. We were introduced to egunguns with images of these multi-layered assemblages as they are worn in ceremony, and mounted for displayed. Egungun invoke honor, and embody lineage ancestors during yearly festivals. Rebecca is working not only to analyze the varied materials used in their fabrication; she also is investigating their cultural context and the values placed on textiles in Yoruba culture through consultations with Yoruba scholars. She explored the origins of the materials used, and their importance as elements of the whole. These egunguns were collected with minimal provenience. (Image from Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, africa.si.edu)
