Museum: Conservation
The preventive process to keep a museum in good condition and to minimise the rate of
deterioration is known as conservation. The International Institute of conservation has
defined conservation as ‘any action taken to determine the nature or properties of the
materials used in any kind of cultural holdings or in their housing, handling, or
treatment, any action to understand and control the causes of deterioration and any
action taken to better the condition of such holdings.’ Conservation of museum objects,
therefore will mean any action which is taken to prevent, delay or stop deterioration
and also any action taken to treat objects with the intention of correcting any alterations
that have come about. Obviously the term conservation is wide enough to embrace both
the maintenance of the object in a sound physical and chemical condition as well as
freeing it from any harmful inclusions.
GENERAL METHODS OF CONSERVATION
The greatest challenge facing museums is the caring for the
collections and at the same time exhibiting and interpreting them for public
education and enjoyment. Persons, who handle the objects under their
possession, should know conservation methods. There are two types of
conservation;
a) Preventive conservation and
b) Interventive conservation.
Preventive Conservation
Prevention is better than cure. If the degradation caused by a poor
museum environment can be avoided reducing the need for remedial
conservation, the museum objects will be saved for posterity to study and
enjoy.
Preventive conservation involves three broad categories. They are
1) Environmental Standards
There are four main factors after the conservation of antiquities for
which conservation experts have established standards. The role of
preventive conservation is to apply the following standards to the specific
collections and effectively implement them in museum buildings in order
to prevent damages on the museum objects.
2) Fire Safety
Fire is a devastating agency, which completely destroys objects
such as organic objects and selective in-organic objects. Even metallic
objects like lead will also be damaged. Fire safety is an important aspect to
be cared for.
3) Design Specification
The display and storage areas should be designed in such a way that
lighting, environmental controls, building construction are up to the
standards. The design of the building for a museum and the materials used
for construction of buildings play an important role in preventive
conservation. As far as possible, insect proof materials, like steel, aluminiumshould be
used for structures. All ventilators should be well weld-meshed to
avoid pigeons, owls etc.
Interventive Conservation
Interventive conservation is the conservation intervening the natural
and physical decays taking place in the objects. The three important facets
of chemical conservation are a) removal of accretion b) stabilising and
arresting defects and c) consolidation and protection.
a)Removal of Accretion
Museum objects are prone to various accretions like corrosion, surface
adherents; unless these accretions are removed the objects loose their
aesthetic look and the details cannot be legible. These accretions may be
removed by physical and chemical means, electrochemical and electrolytic
reduction means in the case of metals.
Physical Method
Accretions may be removed by means of chisel, knife, vibro-tool or by brushing and by
the application of soap solution etc. or by rubbing with an eraser.
Chemical Method
The unwanted surface accretions may be removed from the' surface
of the objects by chemicals by dissolution. For example formic acid, ammonia, acetone,
benzene etc.
b)Stabilising and Arresting Defects
Various defects such as corrosion on metals, warping in wooden
objects, flaking and cohesion in paintings, scale removal on stone objects,
twisting in palm-leaves, browning in case of papers and textiles, hardening
in leather etc., take place. These defects should be arrested and the objects
should be properly stabilised. .
Metals
Corrosion in metals is stabilised by chemicals by forming a complex
with the corrosion products and is stabilised and thus the corrosion is
arrested. [Link] stabilises the bronze disease and arrests it.
Wooden Objects
Warping in wooden objects is removed by a mixture of water and
glycerine and kept under weight and then wooden objects are protected by
polyvinyl acetate in toluene, which cuts off water entry thereby the warping
in the objects is arrested.
Paintings
Flaking in paintings and cohesion in the painted layers are stabilised
by means of adhesives and inpainted. Paintings are provided with glass
front, without touching the painted surface, and a backing to avoid moisture,
dust and insects.
Stone Objects
Stone objects are affected by salt formation in the pores of stones.
Absorbed salts are removed by poulticing with paper pulp, sepiolite etc.
After the removal of salt, the surface should be protected by adhesives like
polyvinyl acetate. Scaling is avoided and stone is stabilised.
Palm Leaves
Because of desiccation, palm-leaf manuscripts become brittle and
twisted. Sticking ofleaves is removed by moistening with steam and applied
with rectified spirit ~md citronella oil after cleaning. This gives flexibility
to them and proper weight over it keeps them straight.
Cellulosic Materials
Cellulosic materials such as paper, textiles, because of acidity gets
brown colour. These should be de-acidified and treated with calcium
bicarbonate or barium hydroxide in order to arrest further acidification and
as a reserve or buffer against acidity.
Leather Objects
Because of desiccation proteinaceous objects get hardened. Any oil
applied on it enters into the cells of the proteinaceous materials and
flexibility is restored.
c)Consolidation and Protective Coating
Fragile objects need to be consolidated. Consolidation should be
done by adhesives which strengthen the objects. Paraloid B72, polyvinyl
acetate, wax, acrylic esters are some of the consolidants. The consolidation
may be done either by application, immersion, impregnation or by vacuum
impregnation. Protective coating may be done with one of the above
consolidants. The consolidants should be transparent, soluble in a solvent,
reversible, should not react with the objects but should physically make
bonding with objects.
