[Nhcoll-l] Request for information: proper storage of historical exhibits

[Robyn Steiner]

I am working with a municipality that has inherited a large wildlife collection from the 1930-50's era.  We are looking for information on the best way to store the lifesize mammal, bird and reptile mounts.  They have been kept in a hotel lobby type room - the hotel closed in the early 1970's. The rooms are in decent shape (no outside infiltration) and have been kept semi-climate controlled.  There is a musty smell when you enter the rooms but that is also true of the hotel rooms.
The municipality tried to take one of the large mammal mounts (a buffalo) to thier history museum but had to remove it as the staff was complaining of an odor. The fear was that arsenic had been used.  A review of the identified taxidermy room did not yield any arsenic; however, boric acid was found.  Air sampling in the hotel exhibit rooms indicated that there was no detectable concentrations of airborne arsenic or boron.  Detectable concentrations were measured for formaldehyde; however, concentrations were low and were constant throughout the sampled areas (around 0.004 parts per million) including the wildlife exhibit areas and the hotel lobby. Detectable concentrations of Freon-12, methylene chloride, carbon disulfide, hexane and tetrahydrofuran were also noted in the exhibition room at parts per billion levels.
 I am looking for any ideas on the best way to store these exhibits until the historic hotel is renovated and opened as a museum.  The exhibits would then be returned to the rooms set aside for the "wildlife museum" portion. Exhibits include buffalo, ducks, geese, raccoons, javelinas, deer, coyotes, elk, etc. They also include full mounts, skins, heads, and antlers.
Please contact me if you have any ideas or if you need more information to help me out with this question.  Thanks!

robyn.steiner at cardno.com<mailto:robyn.steiner at cardno.com>

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