[Nhcoll-l] Rehydrating a formalin specimen

[John E Simmons]

David,
If the specimen is from 1881, it was most likely not preserved in
formaldehyde. Formaldehyde was not available until the 1890s, and was not
in commercial production in the US until 1905. The specimen was probably
preserved in ethyl alcohol (or whiskey), but of course could have been
transferred to formaldehyde at some later time.  In either case, you can
safely rehydrate it using the method described by Randy Singer.

Have you opened the container? If so, what does it smell like? If you could
send me a photo or two of the specimen and container, I will let you know
if I see any other issues with its restoration.

--John


John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 11:50 AM, David Dyer <DDyer at ohiohistory.org> wrote:

> We’re working with a county historical society that has an old vertebrate
> specimen, and the fluid that it was preserved in has long-since
> evaporated.  The specimen is from 1881 and has been on exhibit for about 30
> years. They think it was in formaldehyde (formalin). The curator agrees
> that it should now be taken off exhibit, and have asked us to advise on how
> to preserve. Is it OK to rehydrate in ethyl alcohol (70%) or are there
> other steps that are recommended?
>
> Thanks in advance for any advice!
>
>
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> ==========================================================
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