[NHCOLL-L:3411] Re: [AVECOL-L] Mercury levels in old specimens

[Janet Waddington]

Collection Forum volumes 16 and 17 deal with the issue of pesticide contamination of collections.  The full text papers are available on the SPNHC website at www.spnhc.org  
See especially Cathy Hawks' historical survay of the sources of contamination of ethnographic materials in volume 16.

Janet



Janet Waddington
Assistant Curator and Collection Manager
Department of Natural History - Palaeobiology
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
Canada M5S 2C6
Phone  (416) 586-5593  Fax  (416) 586-5553
Email  janetw at rom.on.ca

>>> Laura Abraczinskas <abraczi1 at msu.edu> 4/25/2007 3:47:47 PM >>>
Dear List,
See inquiry below that appeared on AVECOL-L last week about the historic 
application of mercury to specimens.  Does anyone have further information 
for Kim?
Thanks,
Laura

Envelope-to: abraczi1 at MSU.EDU 
From: Kimberly Bostwick <ksb6 at cornell.edu>
Subject: Re: [AVECOL-L] Mercury levels in old specimens
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:13:20 -0400
To: Laura Abraczinskas <abraczi1 at MSU.EDU>
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.752.3)
X-Virus: None found by Clam AV

Hi Laura,

Thanks for the information.  And please do forward this question to NHCOLL!

Kim


Hi Kim,

FYI - See these links for publications on Mercury in natural history 
collections.  It has been reported that mercury applied to museum 
objects/specimens was primarily corrosive sublimate, (HgCl2).

http://www.spnhc.org/opencms/opencms/spnhc/publications/linked_documents/CF16-1_2.htm 
(click on the titles for full articles)

http://www.spnhc.org/opencms/opencms/spnhc/publications/linked_documents/CF17-1_2.htm 

Also see Collection Forum Volume 20 (1-2) (no link yet).

Do you mind if I forward your message to NHCOLL-L (natural history 
collections discussion list)?

Best,
Laura

In general I know almost nothing about the usage of mercury in museum 
specimens historically and would be curious for any information any one 
could share.

Cheers,
Kim


At 03:11 PM 4/19/2007, you wrote:
>Greetings All,
>
>Recently 2 issues have come up here concerning the historic usage of 
>mercury-containing compounds for guarding old specimens against pests.
>
>  First, we had one of our dingier-looking old redtail mounts tested for 
> Mercury and nearly gave EHS a collective heart-attack with the resultant 
> high levels found.  THAT was fun and interesting (we are now fighting to 
> be allowed to simply recycle the new cardboard boxes in which the mounts 
> were stored temporarily during a move).
>
>Then this week I received an email from a feather-loanee (Chris Rimmer) 
>reporting high levels of mercury in a specimen in which they want to 
>detect natural levels of inorganic mercury contamination (see his email 
>below).  He is looking for information on protocol used in the previous 
>century for applying the mercury compounds, so that they might recreate 
>the procedure to try to find a way to remove the "treatment" mercury while 
>leaving the "natural".
>
>Can anyone point me/him in the direction of some resource?  In general I 
>know almost nothing about the usage of mercury in museum specimens 
>historically and would be curious for any information any one could share.
>
>Cheers,
>Kim
>
>
>"I'm hoping you can help me with a request related to our planned analysis 
>of mercury in the Bicknell's Thrush specimen breast feathers you sent me 
>from the Cornell collection.  My collaborator at Texas A&M Trace Element 
>Research Lab, Bob Taylor, and I are concerned about possible contamination 
>of specimens with inorganic mercury.  Some months ago, we ran analyses on 
>breast feathers from a Bicknell's Thrush and Swainson's Thrush collected 
>in the 1880s, and mercury levels of both were extremely high.  I gather 
>that mercuric chloride, or similar mercury-containing compounds, may have 
>been routinely applied to museum specimens, particularly older ones, 
>during the curation process.  Bob and I are wondering how we can account 
>for this in analyzing mercury burdens in these feathers and comparing them 
>to feathers we have recently collected from mist-netted thrushes.  Bob's 
>thought is that if we could identify the specific protocols that were used 
>in treating specimens with mercuric chloride or similar compounds, we 
>could potentially replicate those treatments on other sets of feathers 
>(definitely NOT those from the specimens you sent, however).
>
>Our idea is to use several sets of paired feathers for this.  In each set, 
>one feather would be treated as a specimen might have been, and the other 
>would be left untreated.  We would then bathe the treated feather in a 
>dilute HCl solution, which should remove the applied inorganic 
>Hg.  Analyzing both feathers should then produce Hg levels that are very 
>similar.  If so, we will then feel confident using the HCl bath on the 
>specimen feathers you and other curators sent us.  If the HCl bath fails 
>to remove all the treated Hg, we will have to find another removal 
>method.  The alternative is simply to measure methylmercury in the 
>specimen feathers (i.e. the toxic form that is sequestered from the bird's 
>system), but this is a more complicated and much more costly 
>analysis.  Thus, our hope is be able to remove the inorganic mercury from 
>the feather surfaces prior to analyses.
>
>My request is whether you can point me towards any published or 
>unpublished documents or other historical references that describe 
>specimen treatment protocols, especially those that include any 
>application of mercury-containing compounds.  Of course, anything specific 
>to Cornell curation practices would be especially helpful.  If those 
>practices have changed over time, that would be important information as 
>well.  Basically, any citations, copies of documents, or other insights 
>would be extremely useful and much appreciated."
>
>
>
>
>*************************
>
>Dr. Kimberly Bostwick
>
>Curator, Birds and Mammals Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates
>
>& Research Associate, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
>
>Cornell University
>
>(607) 254-2160
>
>
>Mailing Address:
>
>Imogene Powers Johnson Center
>
>159 Sapsucker Woods Road
>
>Ithaca, New York 14850

Laura Abraczinskas
Collections Manager
Vertebrate Natural History Collections
Michigan State University Museum
West Circle Drive
East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1045

517/355-1290 (office)
517/432-2846 (FAX)