Specialty Sessions – Page 48 – AIC Blog Archives: Conservators Converse

39th Annual Meeting – Joint Paintings/Research and Technical Studies Session, June 3, “Speed, Precision, And A Lighter Load: Metigo MAP 3.0, A Great Advancement In Condition Mapping For Large-Scale Projects” by Emily MacDonald-Korth

Emily MacDonald presented on the usefulness of a new condition mapping program called Metigo MAP 3.0. She began her presentation with a description of a collaborative project between the University of Delaware and the Tsinghua University (Beijing) led by Dr. Susan Buck (Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation) and Dr. Liu Chang (Tsinghua University) to examine and document Buddhist murals and polychromy in the Fengguo Temple (Fengguosi), located in Yixian County, Liaoning Province, China. The four interior walls of the temple are lined with the murals. The murals were in very poor condition and their contained images were skewed by loss and other damage.

The Metigo Map software allowed the conservation team to map the murals’ condition issues in a short period of time. The software incorporates mapping, digital imaging, and area measurement tools. The program streamlines the mapping process and is easy to use. Emily compared the software to known and used techniques of documentation and illustrated the limitations of each.

Metigo Map was created by German company fokus GmbH Leipzig, dedicated to architectural surveying in addition to documentation of large scale conservation projects.

Maps are produced by uploading images into the software. The images can then be drawn on and annotated. The program makes the image true to scale and is able to rectify skewed images to proper orientation. This allows images to be used that were taken from an angle if your subject is not accessible from the front. By inputting the dimensions of the painting, the software can give exact locations of areas of interest and calculate the surface area of damage. This feature can also be useful in making time estimates for proposals on big projects. Image processing setting allows for photo editing to aid mapping. Mapped images can then be exported as tif. files and opened in other programs.

For the presentation, Emily chose three murals to be representative of the condition issues they noted overall. The conservators worked as a team, using Metigo Map to document the condition of the murals. After the murals are mapped, the maps can be compared easily for condition issues. The software can also be used to map the locations of samples. Annotations can be made to the maps for future referral.

For large scale projects or projects particularly difficult to photograph, users can use the tiling function of the software to piece together the rectified image. This allows for seeing the project unobstructed.

Emily also illustrated how Metigo map can be used to document experiments. She has also used the software while working on a graffitti removal research project at the Getty to document surface changes and areas of treated surfaces.

Emily summed up the talk with an excellent slide comparing the pros and cons of the software. The pros included: easy mapping, image processing, rectification, measurement functions, compatibility with other software, and easy interface. Cons included: requires initial training, no white balance (but this can be done on photoshop beforehand), and cost (more expensive than adobe creative but less expensive than autocad).

39th Annual Meeting – Paintings Morning Session, Friday June 3 – “A Soluble Problem: Morse’s ‘Gallery of the Louvre,’ Glazing, and Toning” by Lance Mayer

In his talk, Lance Mayer introduced “Gallery of the Louvre” by Samuel F.B. Morse and detailed the treatment and history of the painting. The main condition problem with “Gallery of the Louvre” was the overall yellowed appearance caused by a discolored varnish and the extensive yellowing and darkening of the artist’s original glazes. Almost preemptively, Lance discussed (and dismissed) the possibility of simply “thinning” the varnish, the choice of many paintings conservators in this situation—if the varnish cannot be safely removed in total, partial reduction of the coating may be possible without significantly effecting the layers below. Lance showed examples of several treatments where he had been able to reduce or remove varnish coatings above sensitive paint layers that included wax and bitumen, but this approach was not feasible in this case. Analysis of “Gallery of the Louvre” revealed mastic and some oil in the glaze layers, but it is not clear if this was due to the use of mastic varnish in the paint or the use of a megilp medium. There was no cleaning system that could distinguish between the overall varnish and the extensive glazing, and there were plenty of examples of previous cleaning tests which either removed glazes entirely or solubilized both the varnish and glaze layers and mixed the two together. Several of the paintings depicted in the composition had been selectively cleaned previously, leaving the overall tonality of Morse’s painting out of balance with starkly overcleaned pictures hanging in the yellowed room. In addition, there were areas of discolored retouching and several areas of reworked paint over large, flake losses. Morse rolled the painting for transport from France and perhaps the painting stuck to itself—the retouching in these areas is thought to be by Morse himself because they are not well-defined and have a distinctly different appearance when compared to other restorations present.

This treatment and the problems presented fall into a grey area for conservators, and the goals for treatment were realigned accordingly—the goal after the thorough examination was not to clean the painting and remove materials, but rather to “undo” previous cleanings and restorations by adding materials to allow it to be read as a harmonious and coherent whole.

An overall grime layer was removed, and the painting was varnished overall with MS2A. “Bright,” overcleaned areas were toned back, as were abrasions and selected craquelure, particularly in dark areas. The flake losses thought to be repainted by Morse were not filled, and previous discolored retouchings were toned to blend with the surrounding areas. The painting, while still yellow overall, is more harmonious after treatment and the compositional space is much easier to read, particularly the hallway that recedes into the background.

Lance concluded with some discussion of Morse’s techniques, citing his contemporaries who said Morse was too fond of process and often glazed paintings until they looked soiled. Thomas Cole criticized Washingtion Allston, Morse’s teacher, saying “Those pictures which anticipate the beauties of time are pregnant with the seeds of decay,” which was true for Morse’s “Gallery of the Louvre” as well.

39th Annual Meeting – Book and Paper Session, Wednesday, June 1, “How Far Do We Go? Compensation And Mounting Choices In The Treatment Of Japanese Paintings,” Tanya Uyeda, Asian Conservation Studio, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Tanya Uyeda, conservator at the Asian Conservation Studio at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, kicked off the first BPG session of the conference with an interesting and nicely illustrated talk on the treatment decision-making challenges presented by Japanese paintings. Executed on either silk or paper, Japanese paintings are mounted onto folding screens, sliding doors, and scrolls – inherently kinetic formats that pose many conservation challenges.

The preservation of these formats is dependent on periodic remounting of the paintings. The operating assumption for Japanese paintings is that they have been mounted and re-mounted many times before entering Western collections. In order to accommodate the kinetic nature of these paintings, treatments tend to be rather invasive, requiring careful evaluation of when and how to incorporate past repairs into a structurally, aesthetically, and ethically appropriate result. Japanese paintings have often been re-mounted onto different formats; one example Uyeda shared was a pair of paintings that had originally been mounted to sliding doors and were later mounted as scrolls to facilitate exhibition. A painting’s primary support can serve as a clue to it’s original format. In this example, the sliding door paintings were on quite heavy paper, which doesn’t lend itself as well to the scroll format and can lead to structural problems when the paintings are forced to move in new ways. The decision was made to return to these paintings to their original format. Uyeda was quick to point out that changing formats always has consequences; these remounted paintings will now require new storage space.

Problems with previous repairs include mismatched colors, repair materials that are too strong for the original silk, and weak brush strokes that can diminish the aesthetics of the piece. Since curators and clients are attached to what the paintings look like, care is taken to ensure that the new treatments receive ethical treatment that is also sympathetic to the aesthetics of the object. Past mounters would compensate for losses with patches of painting silk attached to the back of the object; this repair silk wears differently than the original silk, causing both structural and aesthetic problems. The MFA currently has a limited stock of painting silk from Japan they use for loss compensation; this silk has been irradiated, which deteriorates it enough to weaken the repair fibers and achieve a better color match. They also have a stock of mounting silk for remounting scrolls. The MFA strives to choose mounting silk that is complementary to the aesthetics and the time period of the original painting. If the current mounting is appropriate, complementary, and usable, they will leave it.

The current Japanese standard for treatment of paintings is that no non-original materials remain, but the MFA takes a different approach, particularly with regard to inpainting. The ethical standard the MFA follows is not to inpaint, but just to tone the areas of loss. However, previous treatments often exhibit extensive inpainting and there are instances when the decision is made to retain these repairs. Uyeda discussed a few examples of paintings in which the previous inpainting was reused, since to remove it would leave an unacceptable void in the painting. Traditionally, toned paper was sometimes used as a lining in order to affect the final appearance of the paintings. Uyeda showed a lovely example of a painting that, based on evidence that it had originally been lined with blue paper to create a “night sky” effect, was relined with blue toned paper in order to retain the aesthetics.

I appreciated that Uyeda highlighted the fact that the only reason most of these paintings still exist is because they have been regularly remounted and acknowledged the expectation that they will be treated again in the future. Ethical considerations of past repairs was a thread that ran through many of the talks; Uyeda’s served as a good reminder that all of the work we do exists at one point on a continuum of past and future treatments.

Q: Do they include any of this narrative about past repairs and choices about remounting on the exhibit labels?
A: No, MFA practice is to only include tombstone information on labels.

Q: When remounting hanging scrolls, do they change/replace the roller knobs?
A: They occasionally reuse the knobs if they’re in good condition, but since original knobs are often ivory and many of these pieces go out on international loan, it has become the policy of the MFA to remove the knobs prior to loans in order to avoid the difficulty of transporting ivory through customs.

39th Annual Meeting – Joint Paintings/Research and Technical Studies Session, June 3, “Raman Revealed: A Shared Internet Resource for the Cultural Heritage Community” by Suzanne Quillen Lomax

Suzanne Lomax presented on IRUG’s (Infrared and Raman Users Group) latest efforts to distribute data for Raman spectra. She began the talk with a brief discussion on the history and mission of IRUG and their new initiative to create a Raman spectra database due in large part to a $239,650 two-year IMLS grant awarded to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in partnership with IRUG. The 118 institutional members will contribute to the database which will be used by individuals, scientists, conservators, and students to study cultural heritage. The Raman database will be maintained on their website. IRUG has biennial conferences and their website www.irug.org contains information on grant funding and the conferences. All of the coauthors for this paper are board members of IRUG.

Suzanne described the model for the database and compared it to the widely used infrared database. By 2009, the IR database was 100% digitalized, available on CD, and in two print volumes. The latest edition contains over 2,000 infrared spectra. On the current IRUG website, members are able to search terms and match by keyword resulting in a hit list for searched components. The resulting spectra provide in their file name link the mode of collection and where it was collected. The largest represented group in the IR database is organic dyes and pigments followed by mineral pigments. Raman spectra are currently being collected and added to the database.

Suzanne also stressed the growing use of IR and Raman data use in the field and how this is being reflected in papers at IRUG conferences specifically related to art and archaeology. She provided examples in which mineral pigments as well as synthetic organic pigments have been identified though used of the database and how Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can be used to overcome the problems of fluorescence by using nanoparticles to magnify the signal.

Objectives of the IRUG database will include a website interface with the ability to upload data by users, software, a translator to transform native data into IRUG standard, a searchable library, an interface for keyword searches, data download, and spectra printing.

Suzanne is chair of the newly formed Raman review committee, which reviews spectra and format. The format to be used by IRUG is JCAMP-DX (ASCII) files for universal access. This will also allow batching of spectra for submission. To learn more about the format refer to the IRUG website.

The first batch of spectra has been pledged but the invitation is open to new contributors. Interested people should contact Suzanne or Beth Price, the project manager from the PMA. Currently users cannot upload data but can do searches on the website.

A comment after the talk reminded the audience that it is a free database though users need to contribute 10 spectra to get access to the searchable version.

39th Annual Meeting-Objects Session, June 1st, “An Archaeological Journey: The Excavation, Deterioration, and Treatment of a Painted Glass Miniature from Nimrud” by Ariel O’Connor

In the first session of talks of the Objects Specialty Group, which focused on archeological materials, Ariel O’Connor gave a presentation on an incredible treatment she did on a painted glass miniature from the site of Nimrud. I found the treatment incredible for several reasons. First she worked on one of the earliest examples of painted glass, and archaeological glass is one of my favorite materials to work on. The miniature was from Nimrud, and having worked at the Oriental Institute Museum I had become familiar with the amazing finds from the site. But the main reason it was so incredible was because of the amount of work it must have taken to reconstruct the miniature that was in such a fragile and fragmentary state. Some of the pieces Ariel reattached were only the size of the tip of a fine brush!

Ariel worked on the miniatures in 2009 during her internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The plaques had been excavated in the 40’s from the site of Nimrud (located in Iraq near Mosul) by the archaeologist Max Mallowan, husband of the author Agatha Christie (who also participated on the excavation cleaning some of the ivories found). Nimrud was once the capital of the Assyrian Empire and had palaces, temples and an acropolis. Most of the finds from the site date to the 9-7^th c. BCE.

The Met’s miniature was found in a room at Fort Shalmaneser along with several other painted glass miniatures (total of 9). The room also contained other luxury goods such as ivory plaques and inlays. The miniatures, which some have suggested could be inlays for ivory, are thought to date to the 9-8 c. BCE. The plaques are the earliest examples of painted glass in the Near East (and possibly the oldest examples known anywhere). After the excavations were completed, the finds were split between the Met, the British Museum, the Iraq Museum and the Corning Museum of Glass. All the plaques were examined by Robert Brill who conducted a technical study of them.

The miniature from the Met is comprised of two fragments which make up the top half of a winged sphinx with a lotus flower. The miniature is rectangular in shape, resembling a plaque, and concave. The piece seemed to be in somewhat good condition when first brought to the museum but by 2002, it seemed to have deteriorated severely and was in about 85 pieces. Ariel set about to conduct a technical study of the pigments used to paint the decoration and undertook an extensive treatment of the miniature in order to stabilize and reconstruct it.

FTIR and Raman analysis was done in order to identify the materials used to paint the design. Iron oxide red and Egyptian blue were found. The black material was analyzed using FTIR but could not be identified. This is because the plaque had been consolidated in the field with PVA which was affecting the analysis. In Brill’s earlier study of the plaques, he hypothesized that the black material was bitumen, which was commonly used in the Near East. Solubility tests of the black showed it was not affected by solvents.

Treatment of the piece proved challenging not only because of the fragile and fragmentary nature of the miniature, but because of the presence of the PVA consolidant. Ariel had to find a treatment to consolidate lifting areas of the miniature and to reconstruct the fragments, but which would not affect the previously applied PVA. She decided to use methylcellulose to join the fragments, which would then be supported by Japanese tissue as a single fiber laid across the join. She used an enlarged image of the miniature that was taken in 1959 to aid in reconstruction. For areas which had separated between the top and bottom surfaces of the miniature, she created an internal support made up of several layers of Japanese tissue.

The final step of the treatment was to fill areas of loss to provide further support to the fragile plaque. Using Mylar, she cut out small templates of missing areas and then cut Japanese tissue to shape using the template. The tissue was then placed in the areas of loss. The edges were also filled, either using one long piece of tissue or smaller pieces only over missing areas, depending on how severe the deterioration was. The tissue fills were not toned, but left as is. After treatment she compared the conserved piece to the 1959 photo and noted there were no losses, just cracks. That was an impressive feat given the number of fragments and how small they were!

Due to deterioration during burial, there had been loss to the original pigments and to the surface. To better understand what the miniature would have looked like, Ariel made a reconstruction, pictured below. I found the talk really interesting and the treatment results very impressive. After all that work to reconstruct the numerous small fragments, the plaque is now stable and the decoration is intelligible once again.

39th Annual Meeting – Photographic Materials Group Luncheon, June 3rd, 2011. “The Hermitage Project”, Paul Messier.

Photographic Materials Specialty Group Luncheon Meeting

Q: When is a survey more than a survey?

A: When it is fully utilized as a tool to promote fuller understanding of collections, better internal institutional communication and positive changes.

Paul Messier explained how a photographic collections survey model, already employed at multiple institutions, was the first step in an exciting collaborative project. The FAIC, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, (and many others to the tune of three acknowledgement slides) have joined forces to survey the photographic collections and to take the next steps toward enabling Hermitage staff to better care for and exhibit their prints. The survey could lay the foundation for future grant applications, showing institutional interest in and accurate statistics of their photographic materials.

Did I mention the survey program translates between languages? Maybe I don’t get out much, but I was impressed.

The teaching of photograph conservation to a small group of young Hermitage conservators is already underway in the form of workshops at the Weissman Preservation Center at Harvard Library and the University of Delaware Department of Art Conservation. The installation of a lab space dedicated to the treatment of photographs is in the planning stages. The Hermitage is a highly esteemed bellwether among Russian Museums. Hopefully this project improves recognition of photographic collections as deserving and needing more care than provided at present.

I was already aware of FAIC’s efforts in Haiti, but was extremely impressed when I heard about this project. The importance of expanding the awareness of the field of conservation cannot be overstated. More publicity is needed for the important efforts of this organization, here and abroad.

The food served at the Photographic Materials Specialty Group luncheon meeting was delicious, as always.

39th Annual Meeting – Architecture Session, June 3, “Like Twinkling Stars: The Technical Analysis of an 18th Century Ceiling from Damascus, Syria” by Kirsten Travers, Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation

In the summer of 2009, Kirsten Travers and LeeAnn Barnes Gordon performed documentation and conservation treatments on the ceiling of the Turkish Room in Doris Duke’s Shangri La estate in Hawaii. The ceiling was originally commissioned in 1797 for the Quwwatli family reception room in their home in Damascus, Syria, and was made using a technique called adjami. The author provided a brief but thorough explanation of the traditional material, which, if I am correct, is made by nailing together thin slats of wood, filling gaps and holes with fiber, applying raised gesso ornament followed by layers of metal foil, tinted glazes and paint. The ceiling was removed from its original location in the 1920s and spent decades in storage. Doris Duke, a devotee of Islamic art and artifacts, purchased the ceiling in 1976 and installed it in her Hawaiian home in 1979, mislabeling it the Turkish Room. By 2009, the ceiling colors were dull and the adjami was deteriorated.

The author and her colleague performed conservation treatments during their summer workshop while students in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation. While Travers breezed through her discussion of the treatments, which included injection adhesives and brush-applied consolidants, the real subject of her talk was the analysis of 50 finish samples from the ceiling. She and her colleagues at Winterthur/University of Delaware tested the samples using eight different analytical techniques, including cross-section analysis, fluorochrome staining, PLM, XRF, SEM-EDS, FTIR, Raman and GC-MS. The author described in detail her findings, particularly the blue, pink and green layers, as well as the varnish and tinted glaze layers.

While the author’s presentation was packed with information, she presented it in a clear and well organized manner. She distilled a large amount of complex information into an easily understood whole. This was my favorite talk of the ASG session, which was strong on its own. (Though perhaps I am biased, as I also perform paint investigations.) I only wish that the author had had a full hour so that she could explain her subject in greater detail. I would encourage the author to publish her findings.

39th Annual Meeting – Architecture Session, June 3, “Conservation of Dalle de Verre at the New York Hall of Science” by Laura Buchner and Chris Gembinski, Building Conservation Associates, Inc.

Laura Buchner and Chris Gembinski gave a fascinating presentation on the conservation of dalle de verre glass panels at the New York Hall of Science, a building erected for the 1964 World’s Fair. Unlike many buildings erected for world’s fairs, the New York Hall of Science was always meant to be a permanent structure. The Great Hall is a 90-feet high ribbon-like structure of dalle de verre glass panels. The exhibition during the 1964 World’s Fair, “Rendezvous in Space”, made use of the deep cobalt blue dalles, highlighted by bits of ruby, green and gold, which give the interior the appearance of stepping into the cosmos.

The authors presented a brief description of how dalle de verre panels were made, both for this building and for typical buildings of the era. According to the authors, 1964 was a transition period when Willet Studios, a manufacturer of dalle de verre panels, began switching from the poured concrete panels used at the Great Hall, to an epoxy matrix.

In 2005, BCA began restoring the Great Hall. The goals of the project were to preserve the “experience of the building” and to address most of the deterioration and moisture-infiltration issues related to the building, but it was acknowledged by all parties involved that it would be impossible to cure all of the moisture-related problems due to the nature of original construction materials. The authors explained how they treated the typical conditions–cracks, erosion of the matrix, spalls of the concrete matrix, cracked glass, biological growth, and exposed reinforcement mesh. They replaced several panels with new dalle de verre set in an epoxy matrix, and rearranged some existing panels to minimize differences in light transmission between new and old units. They repaired cracks by injection and surface-application methods, and used a consolidant and water-repellant to reduce further deterioration of the panels. They also used a migrating corrosion inhibitor to reduce corrosion of rebar in the concrete grid.

The presentation was clear, informative, and well organized, and the conservation work looks expertly performed. I enjoyed learning about dalle de verre, as I was not familiar with it prior to the talk. I especially appreciated the authors’ willingness to share their experience using specific products, and the steps they took to maximize the efficacy of these products.

39th Annual Meeting, Painting Session, June 2, “Choices Post-Mortem in Joan Mitchell’s Work” by Mary Gridley, Cranmer Art Group, LLC

Regardless of your approach, the cropping of a previously unstretched Joan Mitchell painting is not for the fainthearted. Decisions are best made by consensus. In this case, decisions about where to crop were made by a team of two owners, their dealer, and three conservators.

This anecdotal and informative talk was based partly on interviews with two art dealers, John Cheim who represents the Foundation that bears Mitchell’s name, and Jill Weinberg who represents her heirs. Both dealers knew the artist personally and have adhered to somewhat different approaches in the cropping of her pictures over the years. Add to this the myriad number of well-meaning people, from assistants to friends, framers, conservators and other dealers, who have been making this important aesthetic decision, and it becomes apparent that some clarification is needed.

Mitchell’s early works from the 1950’s and early 60’s were painted on pre-primed unstretched canvas cut from rolls and stapled directly to the artist’s studio walls. The paintings were attached to stretchers prior to exhibition, however numerous unsold paintings from this period were discovered in the artist’s basement studio after her death. The paintings had been tightly rolled face in, in bunches of 3-8, and then shoved into cardboard boxes. Cranmer Art Group was called on to mount several previously unstretched paintings in preparation for a recent exhibition.

Mary identified three factors needed for making decisions about cropping:

“Look,” essentially connoisseurship, takes the artist’s technique and signature imagery into account. Mitchell’s early affinity with DeKooning and Gorky was noted. Her early landscape-based abstractions were painted right up to the edge, but by 1956, Mitchell was experimenting with figure/ground relationship, and began “whiting out” brushstrokes and utilizing bare canvas around the edges of her work. There is less white out and more exposed ground in the early 1960’s. This trend was not consistent, however there was an ongoing tension at the edges of the paintings. One or more arcing brush strokes at the top of the paintings are a signature element corresponding to the reach of the artist’s arm, and drips are visible along the bottom edges of the works.

“Evidence” can be found in empirical information such as catalogs and photographs, however edges of the paintings sometimes get cropped in the process of publishing. Mitchell often left decisions about cropping to others, but we know that she signed her work at the request of friends or dealers, and so her signature indicates that cropping was done with the artist’s approval.

“Judgement” appears to include two fully sustainable approaches toward cropping. The approach favored by Mitchell’s Gallery, Cheim and Read, maximizes dimensions of previously unstretched paintings, including fingermarks and incidents around the edges. Mitchell’s heirs and Jill Weinberg tend toward a cropping that is closer to brush strokes with less white border. This lends the work a more charged feeling, but could add constraints in the future.

Mary’s talk was peppered with some great photos of the artist, along with plenty of before and afters.

Daisy Craddock

Craddock Painting Conservation

www.craddockpaintingconservation.com

39th Annual Meeting – Objects Morning Session, June 3, ” The Alaska Fur ID Project ” by Ellen Carrlee and Lauren Horelick

For the final talk in the Friday OSG morning session, Ellen Carrlee, conservator at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau, presented on the Alaska fur ID project, an online resource created by herself and conservation fellow Lauren Horelick (and partially funded by the FAIC Carolyn Rose Take a Chance grant) to aid in the identification of fur on both historic and Alaskan Native objects. This easily accessible fur ID website, posted in blog format (www.alaskafurid.wordpress.com), presents a wealth of diagnostic information on nearly 50 Alaskan animal species including hoofed animals, rodents, hares, canines, felines, bears, weasels, and marine mammals. Ellen and Lauren gathered information from the fur ID literature and combined it with their own observations from visual and microscopic examination of a wide range of animal hairs. A variety of hair types from each animal were examined and documented as they can range greatly in characteristics. Guard hairs and underfur, for example, are quite different from each other, as are the hairs from different parts of the animal (e.g. from belly as opposed to legs). On the other hand, they found that the sex, age, and season in which the fur was gathered had little impact on the micro-diagnostic features of the individual hairs. All of this information is available not only in text form in each entry on the website, but also in annotated photomicrographs and photographs of the animals in JPEG format that can easily be saved and used in your own reports and documentation. In addition, each entry includes the scientific name of the animal, the micro qualities of the hairs (shape, medulla size, medullary index, scale pattern, cross-section shape), macro qualities (color, banding, etc.), cultural uses, and information on how to differentiate the hair from similar animals (“troubleshooting”). Helpful tips for preparing slides included using Duco cement for scale casts and a cross-sectioning technique using artificial cork with a sewing machine needle.

While the Alaska Fur ID project was inspired by the Czech Furskin website (http://www.furskin.cz/), which presents diagnostic information on skin and fur together with SEM images, the Alaska Fur ID website is specifically tailored to aid those using primarily transmitted or polarized light microscopy to identify the sources of individual animal hairs. As someone who works with a collection that includes Alaskan fur objects, I believe this website will be extremely useful, and I hope that it will be a model for others interested in expanding the online resources for fur identification worldwide.