Conservations and Preservation
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The document outlines the essential practices of conservation and preservation in museums, emphasizing the need to control environmental factors like temperature, humidity, and light to prevent deterioration of collections. It details various methods for treating different materials, such as textiles, wood, and metals, and highlights the importance of preventive measures and regular inspections. The conclusion stresses that conserving cultural properties requires expertise and ongoing monitoring to ensure proper care.
Conservations and Preservation
- 1. CONSERVATIONS AND PRESERVATION Dr. Virag Sontakke
- 3. INTRODUCTION • Prime responsibility of the museum is to maintain its collections and to do everything possible to delay the deterioration. • A new or shifting environment can accelerate these changes, and temperature, light, humidity, and human and other biological factors all need to be controlled. • Conservation means to preserve all kind of objects getting to deteriorate. • Conservation involves the treatment and, where feasible and acceptable, the restoration of objects as nearly as possible to their former condition.
- 4. THE SOURCES OF THE CULTURAL PROPERTIES 1. Exploration, 2. Excavation, 3. Treasure-trove finds, 4. Through purchase, 5. Gifts, 6. Transfer, 7. Loan etc, • It includes the protection of the objects, setting of a place, its maintenance and its preservation, restoration, reconstruction etc.
- 5. PRESERVATION • The process of stopping or slowing deterioration of objects. • It not involve actual treatment. • Preventive measures • The process to preserve material/s minutely to bring back to original shape and condition as possible. • Laboratory work CONSERVATION CONSERVATION & PRESERVATION
- 6. PREVENTIVE MEASURES 1. Collection and storage must be handled safely. 2. Correct levels of heat and humidity: full air conditioning; improvised micro climate 3. Well planned storage areas 4. Protection from light: correct levels of light; blind and curtains 5. No water seepage 6. Look after the termites 7. Use of conservation technique and materials for housing 8. Full instructions to the users of collections; that is clean hands, correct handling, no smoking, no pens or inks 9. Cleanliness 10. Use replica instead originals (in case of rare)
- 7. CLASSIFICATION OF MUSEUM OBJECTS • Organic Objects • In-organic objects • Organic decays with the passage of time. • In-organic materials do not decay that easily • a) Organic materials are paper, wood, textiles, leather, ivory, bone etc. • b) In-organic materials are ceramic, stone, metal etc.
- 8. DETERIORATION CAUSES • Several factors involve for deterioration of an objects: 1. Dust 2. Direct sunlight 3. Constant heat (objects being kept in an open environment) 4. Climatic conditions and environment of the building 5. Light 6. Micro-organisms like fungi, insects, termites etc., in the atmosphere. 7. Mishandling of objects 8. Bad storage 9. Fire or accidents.
- 9. CONSERVATION • In order to preserve objects for the future, museums take various measures to care which is known as preventive conservation. 1. Preventive conservation is an ongoing process 2. That continues throughout the life of cultural property, and 3. Not end with interventive treatment.
- 10. CLIMATE • Humidity and temperature are two most important components of the climate. • Humidity and temperature are interrelated. • The relative humidity increases if there is a drop in temperature. • The relative humidity decreases if the temperature is raised. • The main cause of humidity is water in both liquid and vapor form. • The presence of water deteriorates metal and stone much faster then under dry condition. • Objects like paper, wood, leather etc., becomes limp and losses its crispness in a moist atmosphere. • High humidity favours rapid reproduction of insects and micro- organisms like fungi. • Most often climatic condition also damages objects. • Viz. Any objects becomes adjusted to a particular balance of relative humidity, and transported to a different climate, tend to suffer damage
- 11. HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE CONTROL • Humidity and temperature is important for objects long life • It is necessary to record the temperature and humidity of all the rooms and galleries. • There are various devices for monitoring humidity and temperature. • One of the easy devices to measure is hydro thermometer. • This equipment is placed on the wall in the gallery or any specific area where it is desired to measure the relative humidity and temperature of the building.
- 12. MONITORING HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE • Maintain a same climate. • Check the temperature throughout the year in different period of the day. • For controlling constant humidity and temperature it is recommended that: • The relative humidity should range between 45(45%) to 60(60%) and • The temperature between 20 to 24 degree Centigrade (68 to 76 F) • Air-conditioning norms are chosen according to the outside condition of climate of the museum • The air- conditioning that it must run continuously day and night. • The measure of controlling climate changes according to regions. • Fluctuation in AC can harm the objects. For example, • (1) mould and fungus will permanently damage all recorded material from wax cylinder to digital tape. • (2) metal objects will start corroding. • The air-conditioning is very expensive in this case, it is possible to control a limited number of rooms or selected area should be examined.
- 13. LIGHT • Light poses a threat to certain categories of works of art and sound recordings formats (like cassettes, spool etc). • Although objects like stone, metal and ceramics are normally not sensitive to light. • All other object of organic material such as textiles, paper, paintings etc., are liable to be affected by it. • Specially in the tropical countries where the sun is bright almost throughout the year, the damage from light can be serious. • The control for light must observe following three factors: 1. Minimize the intensity of light falling upon the objects 2. Expose objects to the light for a minimum period of time 3. Eliminate the photo-chemically active radiations from the light
- 15. INSECTS • Insect is one of the worst enemies of all kinds of organic materials. • Insect bore holes in to material they infest and eat it voraciously. • In tropical climates, insect menace is greater. • High temperature and humidity favour insect growth. • To control insect from the object the material used for construction of building play an important role of prevention of insect attack. • Insect proof materials, like steel should be used for shelving sound recording formats and books. • Timber should be properly treated to make it insect proof for displaying museum objects. • To prevent reproductive activity of insects use of insecticides is advisable (such as pest control) in tropical climates especially where air-conditioning and humidity control is very expensive.
- 16. FUNGUS • Fungi or fungus are a type of bacteria, a great danger in tropical countries because of their humid climate. • Fungi are serious threat to museum objects (specially to organic nature), sound recording formats etc: • To control fungus following factor should be taken care of: • Time to time cleanliness of the building and the objects is necessary. • All books, art objects, sound recording materials etc. should be taken out for dusting with soft brush or low vacuum.
- 17. FIRE • Fire is one of the major danger and destruction for the art objects both organic and inorganic. • Organic material like textiles, paper etc., • The protection measures against fire should be taken in following ways: • While the planning the building by keeping provision for appropriate exits door for quick evacuation of the staff as well as the visitors. • Easy availability of water supply • Installations of electronic items should be of best quality • Fire extinguish should be installed • Installation of fire detector
- 18. WATER • Water causes serious damage to the objects. • Objects get highly susceptible to contact with water and can be severely damaged by even brief contact. • Its harmful for organic items • It also discoloration, cracking, softening, matting, distortion, and swelling etc.
- 19. OTHER FACTORS Human Errors 1.Dissociation: 2.Physical forces: shock, pressure, lift 3.Dust 4.Burglars, thieves and vandals
- 20. CONSERVATION
- 21. METALS • Metals and alloys form major portion of museum collections. • They seem to be stronger but not durable. • They are mostly archaeological collections and are exposed to air from ground and are found to be corroded mostly. • In the ancient times objects made out of gold, silver, copper, lead, iron etc., were used • The corrosion products either should be removed or stabilised to extend the life expectancy of the objects as well as to provide maximum message from the objects. • Gold Objects: Gold is a noble metal. Gold with copper objects are immersed in a 1% solution of nitric acid, which removes the calcareous materials. • Silver Objects: Silver objects are treated with a 10% solution of formic acid to remove the black deposits and then in dilute ammonia solution to remove the white deposits. Then the silver objects are washed well in distilled water and dried. • Lead Objects: Lead objects are treated with a 5%,solution of acetic acid and washed well to remove all the acid.
- 22. PAINTINGS • The accumulated dust may be gently brushed off. • Leakage and seepage may be avoided. • The conservation can only be done with an expert. • Physical barriers may be provided in the monument or galleries to avoid people going near the paintings and touching them. Paintings on Canvas: • The deterioration of the painting may occur either in the canvas, ground, pigment or varnish layer. • Canvas may be affected by acidity and get brown colour and become dry and brittle. • There may be separation between the support and the ground or ground and pigment. • There may be tear of canvas, cracking of the painted surface, loss of pigments etc. • If the canvas is bad, the painting may be relined with fresh canvas of comparable thickness using reversible adhesives like Paraloid B72, wax and resin mixture. • The loss of pigments may be replaced by inpainting with acrylic colours. • Dust, moisture, light etc., affect the paintings. There fore it is better to air-condition the gallery or storage. Glass Paintings: • When the glass is broken, two supports both in the front and back are to be provided. • The broken pieces are aligned together and pasted with a 5% solution of poly vinyl acetate. • The retouching of the flaked off portion may be done with tempera colours. • The loose papers may be pasted with Paraloid B72.
- 23. CONSERVATION OF STONE OBJECTS 1. Removal of Dirt : 2. removed by the application of a 1% solution of detergent solution followed by brushing and washing. 3. Removal of Soluble Salts: A poultice like paper pulp, sepiolite can be used to remove the absorbed salts by applying it over the objects continuously. • Consolidation of Stone Objects : 1. washed very well with distilled or deionised water. 2. The surface should be protected with a 2% solution of poly vinyl acetate in acetone twice in two different directions. 3. Consolidation of weak stone objects can be done with the help of acrylic resins like Perspex, polyester, epoxy resins like poly vinyl acetate, poly vinyl chloride, Araldite. • Restoration of Stone objects: Dowelling can be done in the case of broken stone objects by joining the piecesby means of stainless steel headless rods.
- 24. CERAMICS • Salt affected baked objects may be cleaned with salt free water. • The broken ceramic pieces should be numbered and joined together. The broken edges should be cleaned with a soft brush and then with rectified spirit. • If they are very fragile they should be consolidated with the help of consolidates. • For salt removal the methods that are used in the case of stones may also be used. • The acrylic resin should be applied at the broken edges and joined.
- 25. GLASS AND GLAZES • Glass is a super cooled liquid. • Heating silica, soda, and lime makes glass. • Dry climate is good for the preservation of glass and glazes. • Glass may lose its transparency and become cloudy or crizzled, which is commonly called as Glass Disease. • Glass is affected by alkaline water on the glass. • If the affected glass is not cleaned, the glass completely gets damaged. • Avoiding contact of water with glass can stop the deterioration. • The soluble alkali salts are washed with water, dried with rectified spirit, acetone or ether and stored in low humidity cases keeping silica gel.
- 26. WOODEN OBJECTS • Dry rot, a type of fungi, affects wood seriously. • Termite attack is very dangerous if not inspected often. • Soot, dirt, oil accretions affect the woodcarvings very much. • Wooden objects should be segregated from the earth and wall if they are positioned so. • Variation in the climatic condition should be avoided. • Regular dusting should be done to avoid the dust becoming dirt. • The wooden objects will not absorb moisture if coated with water repellent like poly vinyl acetate. • Galleries, which are displayed with woodcarvings should be vacuum cleaned. • The storage area should be treated for the insects and fungi.
- 27. TEXTILES • Textiles are mostly organic in nature. • They get affected in excess moisture and heat. • Biological agents affect much the textiles. • Termites eat away textiles when suitable environment exists. • Wool moth attack woollen materials. • Acidity affects the textiles very much. • In certain cases the dye itself eats away the textiles. • The textile piece is kept in between two chiffon cloths, rested over a glass plate and washed in salt free water. • 1% solution of Labolene is applied and brushed. • Then the textile is washed well in running water. • This can be done only in the case of textiles with fast coloured dyes. • Providing a support to the textile may strengthen weak textiles. • Darning can also do the strengthening. • In case there are loss of textiles, similar cloth may be used to fix in those affected spots with the help of 5% solution of poly vinyl acetate. • It is advisable to maintain 45-60% RH and 20-22 °C through out the day.
- 28. BONE AND IVORY OBJECTS • Bone and ivory are derived from animals. • The main constituents of bone and ivory are calcium phosphate associated with carbonate and fluoride and the organic constituent is ossein. • Both have the cellular structure. • Ivory has a hard and dense tissue known as dentine, which results in striations, which may be seen radiating from the centre of the tusk. • Accumulated dirt, oil and grease can be removed by brushing with 1% solution of Labolene in rectified spirit. • The washings are removed by blotting paper. • The objects in distilled water for about 5 seconds and repeated a number of times with fresh distilled water. • Then the objects are washed in 95% rectified spirit twice and dried in air.
- 29. PAPER BASED OBJECTS • Paper is made out of rags, wood, plant fibres etc. • Internal factors such as acidity, contents of paper, etc. harm the papers • Environmental factors such as moisture, suspended particulate matter, oxides of carbon, sulphur and nitrogen, bio-deterioration, mishandling etc. also responsible • Acidity in paper is gained by the presence of moisture. This makes the paper brown and brittle in nature. • Acidity in paper can be removed by keeping the paper in a chamber where ammonia vapour is present. • Paper materials should be well preserved by reducing the light intensity and moisture. Since paper materials are organic in nature all precautionary measures should be adopted to protect them from biological agents.
- 30. ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES IN EXHIBITIONS • The exhibition area must be environmentally controlled and free from all construction, destruction or related activity. • Freshly painted area should be allowed to dry for at least two days under active air circulation. • There should be at least a minimum time gap of two months between plastering of walls and exhibition. • The exhibition must be controlled access with provision for daytime security • It should be furnished with intrusion, smoke and fire detectors. • Works of art and other objects should not be exposed to sunlight, heating • Floor cleaners and cleaning operations should not be hazardous through flashing, chemical exposures or mechanical damage. • In case of renovation, repair or painting the exhibition galleries, the objects should be well covered with polythene sheets and reinforced with wooden structures all around. • The light level for light sensitive objects should be in between 50 and 100 lux, that too, for a limited exposure. • Photography, movie and video work should be controlled, as too much light affects works of art. • It is better to limit on the maximum number of persons permitted at any time in the gallery depending on the exhibition space and the capacity of the air-conditioning system.
- 31. CONCLUSION • Prime duty of the museum • Each items need different medicines • Museum shall have in-situ laboratory • Museums staff have at least have basic knowledge regarding the preservation and conservation. • Periodic inspection needed on organic objects. • Objects shall be inspected repeatedly. • Before and after pictures are advised to see the deterioration • Conservations always done when its needed. • Always conducted by the specialists.