[NHCOLL-L:3305] RE: How to repair a hole in Buffalo?

[Bob Glotzhober]

Shellie:

Anytime you allow the public to touch specimens, it has to be a specimen
that you are willing to be "lost" by damage to your collection. I cannot
advise you on how to fix the "hole" - you need a good taxidermist and
some patches of fur. Another question for you, have you checked to make
sure this "old" exhibit mount was not prepared with arsenic? Prior to
the 1950s and into the 70s (and occasionally even later!), almost
everything was prepared with arsenic. Despite the good interpretive
intentions of the donor and your museum, you could be exposing your
visitors to arsenic poisoning.

 

Two important questions remain for you then. First, if you have not
tested for arsenic, do it immediately. If it tests positive (as I would
suspect), immediately remove the sign allowing visitors to touch it, and
take measures to insure that they no longer can. If it is reachable,
they will touch it whether permitted or not. If there is no arsenic,
then you still get back to your final question on how to prevent further
damage. You cannot, if you allow it to be touched. Even if visitors do
not produce a hole, they will gently but gradually and certainly wear
down the fur until there is nothing but smooth hide to wear away. Why
not obtain a large piece of modern bison hide that has been tanned with
modern, safe methods - then attach an 8x10" patch of that fur to a sign
near the bison, allowing the visitors to touch this patch. A quick
search on Google came up with several dozen sources of bison hide with
fur attached. As the patch wears out, you simply replace it with another
"disposable" patch of fur. This approach protects both your old specimen
and your visitor. I would suspect that a little discussion with your
donor would convince them of the wisdom of this approach.. 

 

Good luck - and let me know how your arsenic test comes out.

 

 

 

====================

Robert C. Glotzhober             614/ 297-2633

Senior Curator, Natural History         bglotzhober at ohiohistory.org

Ohio Historical Society         Fax: 614/ 297-2546

1982 Velma Avenue

Columbus, Ohio  43211-2497

 

Visit the website of the Ohio Historical Society at:

  www.ohiohistory.org and check out our online collections catalog.

See or purchase Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ohio or the Cedar Bog
Symposium II at OHS's new E-Store:  http://www.ohiohistorystore.com/ 

Visit the Ohio Odonata website at:
http://www.marietta.edu/~odonata/index.html

 

 

________________________________

From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Shellie Eagan
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 4:52 PM
To: NHCOLL-L at lists.yale.edu
Cc: heath.garner at ttu.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:3304] How to repair a hole in Buffalo?

 

Dear Esteemed Colleagues: 

I recently noticed a hole about the size of a person's small hand
(fist-shaped) with a portion of the fur/hide still attached on the
Buffalo. The hole is visible to patrons walking towards it and is on the
middle flank of the Buffalo's body. Our Buffalo is authentic and is on
display on the exhibit floor. The buffalo was donated to us and
instructed to be used as a 'touchable' artifact on the exhibit floor.
This Buffalo is old (The other Buffalo we have is much newer, which is
not allowed to be touched by patrons and is secured out of reach). There
is a sign in front of the old Buffalo that allows people to touch the
old Buffalo to feel its fur. It is believed a patron may have
accidentally bumped it.  Please, advise on how to repair the damage and
what measures could be taken to prevent further damage.

Thank you, 
Shellie Eagan 
Curator of Collections 
UTSA's Institute of Texan Cultures 
801 S. Bowie Street, San Antonio, Texas 78205 
San Antonio's Cultural Experience Museum 

 

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