[NHCOLL-L:3161] RE: Adhesion of Botany Specimens to Herbarium Sheets

[Joanna Morton]

Hi Christine,
 
There is some evidence that stitching or strapping is preferable to overall adhesion because it allows the plant to changing RH without damage. See:
 
 Egenberg & Moe (1991) `A "stop-press" announcement: damage caused by a widely used herbarium mounting technique' Taxon 40:4 p601-604
 
Stitching or strapping has several other advantages - it is easier to remove the specimen so that the reverse can be viewed, or so it can be remounted on a new sheet, and there is less contamination of the specimen by the adhesive. The main disadvantage that I can see is that it leaves the specimen more vulnerable to loss as not all the bits are stuck down.
 
Two other useful references are:
 
Down, J. (1999) `Adhesive research at the Canadian Conservation Institute as it relates to herbarium collections' in Managing the Modern Herbarium: An inter-disciplinary approach eds D. Metsger & S. Byer pp205-224
 
Bedford, D, (1999) `Vascular plants' in Care and conservation of natural history collections eds D. Carter & A. Walker Butterworth Heinnemann: Oxford
 
Joanna
 
Joanna Morton
Conservator, Objects
Te Papa
PO Box 467, Wellington, NZ
ph: + 64 4 381 7329
 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu]On Behalf Of Del Re, Christine
Sent: Friday, 18 August 2006 9:39 a.m.
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:3160] Adhesion of Botany Specimens to Herbarium Sheets



I am working on a in-house grant funded botany re-housing project which includes the stabilization of plants to herbarium sheets.    Our botanist requires that the entire plant specimen be firmly mounted onto the herbarium sheet: including the entire stem.  Each plant specimen is tugged at and pulled at to make sure that it is completely and absolutely affixed to the herbarium sheet.  Not being a botanist, but a conservator by training, it seems odd that every molecule of a plant is glued, affixed and completely immobilized to the herbarium sheet, especially since most of the stems were originally fixed on the sheets with straps.

Since the references that I have read do not indicate the degree to which a plant is affixed to a sheet, can my colleagues on NHCOLL-L, please enlighten me as to the accepted standard practice on plant immobilization if there is one?  Your input would be greatly appreciated.

my sincere thanks for your consideration of my request, Chris 

Christine Del Re                Voice:  (414) 278-2780 
Senior Conservator              Fax:    (414) 278-6100 
Milwaukee Public Museum e-mail: delre at mpm.edu 
800 W. Wells St. 
Milwaukee, WI  53233-1478 



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