Biocides in Museum Collections

• Pesticide Mitigation in Museum Collections: Science in Conservation. Proceedings from the MCI Workshop Series, edited by A. Elena Charola and Robert J. Koestler, Smithsonian Contributions to Museum Conservation Number I (Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington DC), 2010, 72 pages.

• Helene Tello, 2006, 'Investigations on Super fluid Extraction (SFE) with Carbon Dioxide on Ethnological Materials and Objects Contaminated with Pesticides', Thesis, Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 207 pages.

• Özge Gençay Üstün, 'The Limitations of Hand-held XRF Analyzers as a Quantitative Tool for Measuring Heavy Metal Pesticides on Art Objects', 2008, 6 pages. (NB: A shorter version was published in the Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter 30, January 2009, pp. 5-8.)

• Review of the XRF Seminar, The Field Museum, Chicago, June 2008 by Cheryl Podsiki. (First published within the Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter 30, January 2009, pp. 15-17.)

• A Bibliography on Biocides in Museums, prepared by assistant coordinators Farideh Fekrsanati and Monika Harter for distribution at the ICOM-CC 15th Triennial Conference in New Delhi, September 2008. Special thanks to contributors Jessica Johnson, Nancy Odegaard, Jane Sirois and Helene Tello.  

• Articles of the Pesticide Session hosted jointly by the CCI and the ICOM-CC Working Group on Ethnographic Collections, and published within the Proceedings of Symposium 2007, Preserving Aboriginal Heritage: Technical and Traditional Issues, September 24-28, 2007 in Ottawa, Canada:
  • Pesticide Contamination: Working Together to Find a Common Solution, by P. Jane Sirois, Jessica S. Johnson, Aaron Shugar, Jennifer Poulin and Odile Madden (abstract)
  • Preserving the Trust: The Pesticide Residue Project at the Museum of Anthropology, by Kathleen Bond and Heidi Swierenga (abstract)
  • Decontaminating Sacred Objects of the Haudenosaunee, by Richard W. Hill and Peter Reuben (abstract)
  • Pesticide Removal Studies for Cultural Objects, by Nancy Odegaard and Werner S. Zimmt  (abstract)  
     

• Review of the Pesticide-contaminated Collections Workshop, September 28, 2007, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, by Jane Sirois, Canadian Conservation Institute. (First published within the Bulletin of the Canadian Association for Conservation, Vol. 33 No. 1, March 2008, p. 23). 
   

• Review of the Meeting: Cultural Heritage Between Conservation and Contamination – The Issue of Biocidal Products in Museum Collections and Monuments, Berlin, November 29 – Dec 01, 2007, by Monika Harter. (First published in the Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter Number 29, May 2008, pp. 29-31.) 
   

• A pesticide questionnaire was sent out to the Working Group membership in 2006 to survey their needs on this issue. An Update on the Pesticide Project and survey results were published within the Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter 28 (February 2007). For more information, contact Monika Harter or Farideh Fekrsanati.
   

• "Unique Problems with the Use of the Handheld XRF Spectrometer for Pesticide Surveys of Ethnographic Collections", by Nancy A. Fonicello. (First published within the ICOM-CC Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter, Number 28, February 2007, pp. 4-8.)
   
• "Reliability of X-Ray Fluorescence for the Quantitative Analysis of Arsenic in Contaminated Leather" by Kathleen Bond. (First published within the ICOM-CC Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter, Number 28, February 2007, pp. 9-10.) 
   
• Book Review by Heidi Swierenga of "Old Poisons, New Problems: A Museum Guide for Managing Contaminated Cultural Materials", by Nancy Odegaard, Alyce Sadongei and Associates, Altamira Press, Walnut Creek CA, 2005; 126 pages, paper-back, US $39.95; ISBN 0-7591-0515-4. (Published within the ICOM-CC Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter, Number 28, February 2007, pp. 25-26.) 
   
• "Pesticides: “Green Chemistry” Finds Its Way Into Conservation Science", by Helene Tello and Achim Unger.  (First published within the ICOM-CC Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter, Number 27, June 2006, pp. 3-5.) 
   
• "Testing for Pesticide Residues in the Public Program Collections at the Royal B.C. Museum", by Lisa Bengston. (First published within the ICOM-CC Ethnographic Conservation Newsletter, Number 26, December 2005, pp. 7-8.)
   

 Useful Links

• NMAI Pesticide Web-pages: the National Museum of the American Indian devotes a section of its website on the issue of pesticide residues in museum collections, including sections on: which pesticides have been used in the past; analytical techniques to detect pesticide residues; pesticides, repatriation and loans; a bibliography; and web links.
• Website of the Integrated Pest Management Working Group, a group of collection managers, conservators and other professionals interested in issues surrounding the implementation of integrated pest management in museums and other collection-holding institutions.

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Photo © and courtesy of the Canadian Conservation Institute.