29 Jul
2010
29 Jul
'10
6:39 p.m.
In article <4C51C26F.2040909 at bitsavers.org>,
Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> writes:
On 7/29/10 9:47 AM, Richard wrote:
Sorry for my mislabelling.
In article<4C51A9D3.9030808 at
bitsavers.org>,
Al Kossow<aek at bitsavers.org> writes:
Traditionally conservators, not curators, do this sort of work on artifacts. On 7/29/10 6:47 AM, Richard wrote:
So what do curators do about this sort of thing?
Do they just let it yellow? > From a museum curator point of view, would
they consider retr0brite
restorative or a mdofication?
Absolutely not. Museum practice is to minimize any changes to the
condition, since any altera
tion
will change it's usefulness to future
researchers.
For the classic example, Google "Napoleon's Buttons"
Umm... this yielded a book about how tin becomes powder below 56
degrees F and how this contributed to Napoleon's failed military
campaigns in the east. Is this the right reference? Because it
doesn't seem to have anything to do with museum conservatorship.
This is also the reason artifacts are handled with
gloves. We have several pi
eces
in the collection that have fingerprints permanently
etched into the metal fr
om
handling.
I knew about the glove handling and the consequences of skin oil on
surfaces.
Given that lots of computing history is currently in private
collections, and that private collectors like to do things like
retr0brite their objects, how do museums deal with personal
collections that are on loan? Do they advise the collector on how
best to preserve/conserve their objects but not object if the
collector does things that they wouldn't do?
For another example, consider the case of vintage computing gear where
the collector has replaced (in a reversible way) the original
non-switching inefficient power supply with a more efficient switching
supply. Or where they have interfaced modern storage to a vintage
peripheral interface. As long as they're not soldering directly to
the board, this is a reversible change and the equipment can be
restored to its original working configuration.
However, given the conversation about conservators above it seems that
this is something a museum would never allow to be done to one of
their artifacts. Is it that bad, or am I off base here?
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com/the-direct3d-graphics-pipeline/>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://legalizeadulthood.wordpress.com>