{"id":5192,"date":"2026-08-17T19:29:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/?p=5192"},"modified":"2026-08-17T19:29:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T19:29:03","slug":"a-delicate-balance-treatment-strategies-for-a-severely-deteriorated-wwii-era-mickey-mouse-gas-mask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/2026\/08\/17\/a-delicate-balance-treatment-strategies-for-a-severely-deteriorated-wwii-era-mickey-mouse-gas-mask\/","title":{"rendered":"A Delicate Balance: Treatment Strategies for a Severely Deteriorated WWII-Era Mickey Mouse Gas Mask"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Claire Curran<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Abstract<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This conservation treatment focused on a WWII-era children&#8217;s Mickey Mouse gas mask, the product of a collaboration between the Sun Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, and Walt Disney. The mask was designed during the early 1940s with the intention of reducing fear by merging with a familiar and comforting character. The result is a haunting juxtaposition \u2013 part childhood toy and part survival tool that reflects both the anxieties and ingenuity of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As public concern over chemical warfare diminished, the project waned. Only 1,000 of these masks were ever produced, distributed mostly as promotional items. Of those, only three are known to survive in public collections today, each in varying states of deterioration, making this a remarkably rare artifact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mask, belonging to the Summit County Historical Society, arrived in a fragmented and collapsed state. The rubber displayed both localized flexibility as well as significant embrittlement and cracking. With the mask were nearly twenty fragments that were both stretched, distorted, and in some cases completely folded over on themselves. Conservation treatment involved stabilizing lifting paint, and brittle, cracked rubber, careful reshaping of warped elements, and reintegrating of detached fragments to re-establish the shape of the mask. The goal of the treatment was to produce a mask that was stable, intact, and whole, while maintaining a conservative approach given the limitations of the material. With the completion of the treatment and the design and fabrication of a custom mount, the mask can now be displayed at the newly built Akron History Center, offering a compelling piece of material culture from the World War II era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/objects-specialty-group\/2026-volume-thirty-three\/\">2026 | Montreal | Volume 33<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Claire Curran Abstract This conservation treatment focused on a WWII-era children&#8217;s Mickey Mouse gas mask, the product of a collaboration between the Sun Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, and Walt Disney. The mask was designed during the early 1940s with the intention of reducing fear by merging with a familiar and comforting character. The result [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":344,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/344"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/osg-postprints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}