[NHCOLL-L:4791] RE: oology curation query

[CAHawks at aol.com]

I concur with Simon and Gretchen. If cotton isn't truly just alphacellulose 
 fiber it will oxidize and even if it is, it attracts and hold moisture 
near the  eggs, which can promote Bynes if there are any sources of organic 
acids in the  air around the collection. Use a high-loft, non-bonded 100% 
polyester  fiber.
 
Cathy Hawks
 
 
In a message dated 4/2/2010 7:45:46 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
AndersonG at CarnegieMNH.org writes:

I vote for polyester for all of the reasons already  stated.

For broken shells I recommend using tyvek - the soft  variety.  Crumple it 
to further soften it so that it almost form fits to  the cavity in the 
polyester batting. place broken shells within.  It is  softer than normal acid 
free tissue and less abrasive. 
If you use  tissue - know that buffering agents are usually calcium 
carbonate - so that  would work well with shells.

Gretchen  Anderson
Conservator
Carnegie Museum of Natural  History
andersong at carnegiemnh.org


-----Original  Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu on behalf of  nmccartn
Sent: Fri 4/2/2010 5:08 PM
To:  'nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu'
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:4784] oology curation  query

Hello, everyone:

I am about to rehouse our egg collection,  and have had advice of using 
cotton or polyester as padding in our  Durphy plastic boxes which will 
be in two nice new Viking cabinets.  Would the cotton be attractive to 
insects? Any advantage to one or  the other?

In terms of tissue paper for broken shells (hopefully just a  few) 
should I get buffered or unbuffered?

Anything else I  should consider?

Many thanks in advance.

NMcC

Nancy  Glover McCartney, PhD
Curator of Zoology
UA Collections Facility
2435  Hatch
Fayetteville, AR 72701

_http://fulbright.uark.edu/collections/_ 
(http://fulbright.uark.edu/collections/) 

Phone:  479-575-4370
FAX:  479-575-7464










Catharine Hawks
Conservator
2419 Barbour Road
Falls Church  VA 22043-3026 USA
t/f 703.876.9272
mobile  703.200.4370
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/nhcoll-l/attachments/20100403/db3e9756/attachment.html