[Nhcoll-l] Delbridge MNH closing over chemical concerns

Tue Aug 22 11:52:38 EDT 2023

It sounds like a poor excuse to close the museum to me. I bet the zoo that runs it just didn't want to deal with being in the museum business.
Does anyone here think airborne chemicals from decades-old taxidermy could concentrate to high enough levels in a museum to present a risk to the visiting public, or for that matter staff? Is there a threshold for levels and what do you look for?
I don't think this is like lead levels in an indoors shooting range, and it's not like arsenic is aerosolizing. I'm very curious as to what exactly they're detecting in the air and what the levels are, and what the safety threshold is, and how it was determined. Would love to know what folks more knowledgeable than me think.

Rod

Rodrigo Pellegrini
Registrar, Natural History Bureau
New Jersey State Museum
PO Box 530
Trenton, NJ 08625-0530
USA

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Opitz, Cindy E
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2023 11:45 AM
To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [Nhcoll-l] Delbridge MNH closing over chemical concerns

Recently announced: The closure of the Delbridge MNH in South Dakota, "over concerns that chemicals in its taxidermy collection could endanger visitors and staff," and plans to decommission the collection and dispose of the taxidermy mounts.

Article:
https://apnews.com/article/south-dakota-taxidermy-natural-history-museum-closed-chemicals-8705995a1bf8a45ceb65174e5821308a<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/apnews.com/article/south-dakota-taxidermy-natural-history-museum-closed-chemicals-8705995a1bf8a45ceb65174e5821308a__;!!J30X0ZrnC1oQtbA!LaSfbbCKGblX9nhWTWS736zGUe4Yv94Gi4T_5IiWN3reToKdqv7LnDZijl99BhmuSy4KxE7vL51iNIEpTCeDLQcvoul9DeXvug$>

Video featuring the taxidermy mounts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx--6nZuLnQ<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx--6nZuLnQ__;!!J30X0ZrnC1oQtbA!LaSfbbCKGblX9nhWTWS736zGUe4Yv94Gi4T_5IiWN3reToKdqv7LnDZijl99BhmuSy4KxE7vL51iNIEpTCeDLQcvoumbtO6DnQ$>

Cindy Opitz (she/her)
Director of Research Collections
Museum of Natural History and Old Capitol Museum
Instructor, Museum Studies Certificate Program
The University of Iowa
11 Macbride Hall, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
Office: 319.335.0481
cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu<mailto:cindy-opitz at uiowa.edu>
mnh.uiowa.edu,<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/mnh.uiowa.edu/__;!!J30X0ZrnC1oQtbA!LaSfbbCKGblX9nhWTWS736zGUe4Yv94Gi4T_5IiWN3reToKdqv7LnDZijl99BhmuSy4KxE7vL51iNIEpTCeDLQcvoum0IZ_V-w$> oldcap.uiowa.edu<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/oldcap.uiowa.edu/__;!!J30X0ZrnC1oQtbA!LaSfbbCKGblX9nhWTWS736zGUe4Yv94Gi4T_5IiWN3reToKdqv7LnDZijl99BhmuSy4KxE7vL51iNIEpTCeDLQcvoukTjUWMhw$>
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