[Nhcoll-l] NYT article: Soot on early 20th century specimens

Thu Oct 12 16:24:10 EDT 2017

In my experience, specimens that have gotten dusty / sooty in storage from dust, coal deposits, fires, or whatever will be relatively clean on areas protected from the dust or other contamination - the undersides of feathers, beneath wings, etc. I would think that in the case of birds that had gotten sooty in their lifetimes, the soot would be more likely evenly distributed throughout the specimen’s feathers.

Dee

Dee Stubbs-Lee, CAPC, MA
Conservator / Restauratrice
New Brunswick Museum/
Musée du Nouveau-Brunswick
277 Douglas Avenue
Saint John, New Brunswick
E2K 1E5
Canada
(506)643-2341

From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of James and Judy Bryant
Sent: Thursday, October 12, 2017 5:19 PM
To: Erin Cashion <ecashion at ohiohistory.org>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] NYT article: Soot on early 20th century specimens

I have to admit that when I first saw the sooty specimens pictured in the NY Times Article they reminded me of mounted specimens I’d seen many times before, in instances where the birds had been mounted and around 1900 and in at least some cases exhibited in museums that would have had coal heat. However, I don’t recall noticing study skins coming out of storage that were this sooty.

James Bryant
SOJOURN Science - Nature - Education
Santa Fe, NM
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_in_james-2Dbryant-2D0598a940_&d=DwIGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=pX_ysxap_f9qqbngwt7GCpxXIkM8ipemlDIZF_vU_hQ&s=7IWeVQ0vIrp6ZBXbIU_CXyRPqiB07By4vBl2oYbnSfo&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_in_james-2Dbryant-2D0598a940_&d=DwMGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=uXCv72FRZ_0ERkGkOLqtuvdu9eZkqYLbwK-F-H-8QNM&s=DtqKGKjXPIufEpQUM4aMz7A3R0T2o_Qh79H0pRwpnao&e=>

On Oct 12, 2017, at 10:08 AM, Erin Cashion <ecashion at ohiohistory.org<mailto:ecashion at ohiohistory.org>> wrote:

Hi all,

I mentioned in my post regarding the historic taxidermy case last week that some of the specimens inside appear sooty. One person replied that it may be caused by mercuric chloride (applied as a preservative during preparation). A couple other people suggested it may be the result of coal dust in the air at their storage location(s) due to coal heating, rather than soot collected from its habitat in life. The study linked below is suggesting the latter. I’m curious how they determined the difference between these two carbon contaminants.

NYT article: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2017_10_10_science_birds-2Dair-2Dpollution.html&d=DwIGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=pX_ysxap_f9qqbngwt7GCpxXIkM8ipemlDIZF_vU_hQ&s=MApnnTzsP8s2LKBjUxq4MrszGWHKMqw678jytKfnW64&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2017_10_10_science_birds-2Dair-2Dpollution.html&d=DwMFAg&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=dfzHto3VHN4FuEv-uwP7f7mbsr1H_yh2ojReafCxjq8&s=ZBPD0yYy34rMSAZuRAtBN5-sqzH9mhdhhOD5PB0vB-Y&e=>
PNAS article (full text behind a paywall): https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.pnas.org_content_early_2017_10_04_1710239114&d=DwIGaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=pX_ysxap_f9qqbngwt7GCpxXIkM8ipemlDIZF_vU_hQ&s=dRIKNvAfHL2e-WqPeaG9Vj6fcNxkrv8NPqmlAmq0FvE&e=<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.pnas.org_content_early_2017_10_04_1710239114&d=DwMFAg&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=dfzHto3VHN4FuEv-uwP7f7mbsr1H_yh2ojReafCxjq8&s=scmWJIAHzlAxN4eMmrYbA1Pw2xlL4K8QeeTND5U-IqU&e=>

In any case it’s wonderful to see natural history collections making the mainstream news!

Erin B. Cashion, Curator of Natural History
Ohio History Connection
800 East 17th Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43211
p. 614-298-2054
ecashion at ohiohistory.org<mailto:ecashion at ohiohistory.org>

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