When Water Strikes, It's a Freezer to the Rescue!

Unusually warm temperatures last week have caused rivers and creeks in our area to swell, flooding low-lying areas. Earlier this winter the River Seine rose to flood stage, causing the Louvre to implement emergency protocols and close its lower level.

When a water disaster strikes a textile collection or organic collection, a humble freezer can become an institution's best friend. Subjecting items to a deep freeze will halt bacterial and fungal activity and give an institution time to develop a remediation and conservation plan. Procedures for freezing textiles should be a part of any organization's disaster plan.

No natural water disaster or leak is too small or large for a freezer to be helpful.

And the faster the response time, the better.

It is important to place the textiles into the freezer as soon as possible to minimize mold growth. Ideally, items should be wrapped in plastic with minimal folds or overlaps, thus creating a larger surface area. Interleave fabric layers with freezer or waxed paper to prevent dye transfer.

Attached labels added to the packages

Items should be spaced apart from each other to promote rapid freezing, preferable in separate packages. Insure that the package are labeled with information about the artifact, including the accession number. The more information included the better since it might be a while until they can be addressed. Do not rely on your memory of what is inside.

           

Fabric layers are separated with freezer or waxed paper 

            

Previously frozen textiles await cleaning

                         

Water damaged textiles can then be removed from a freezer and quickly wet cleaned.

In consultation with a conservator a proposal can be developed to treat the water-damaged textiles.

Additional Resources

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. "Salvaging Water Damaged Textiles."  Accessed February 15, 2018.

Connecting to Collections Care. Video, "Salvage of Water Damaged Textiles." Source: Video demonstration of salvaging wet textiles – Preservation Australia. Accessed February 15, 2018.

FEMA Fact Sheet. "Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms."  Accessed February 24, 2018.

National Park Service. Conserv-O-Gram, "Salvage at a Glance, Part V." 2003. Accessed February 15, 2018.

Great work Historic Woodstock!

It is at times like this that I truly love my job. 

I just returned from a visit to an amazing collection in a museum located in Woodstock, NY. Woodstock is known for many things, but less so for this incredible collection of artists' work consisting of paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, textiles, photographs, books, manuscripts, film/sound recordings, antique tools, and an extensive archives of all the other arts organizations in the community.  This group had an early connection to the inclusion of artists into the WPA during the New Deal years. The Historical Society of Woodstock was founded in 1929 by a group of artists, writers, academics and local citizens. The Society maintains its link to the community of artists who are still at work in this community.

Over the years I have visited the museum many times. As early as 2008 they had already begun the project of renovating and modernizing their historic structure, the Eames House. At this time, their collection had mostly been moved to a secure location where organization and data recording was done. 

No large project like this is simple or straightforward. Always there are many moving parts. However, this dedicated group sought funding from local groups throughout New York State; NYSCA, Get Set, Ready, Go in 2009; and on the federal level, from the Federal Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) in 2010; and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in 2016. Each assessment was used as a building block that allowed them to fulfill the promise of earlier recommendations.

I want to share the great work they have done by showing a few before and after images.

Temporary secured space in 2008 and 2017, east view. Now this section is used for town archives.

Temporary secured space in 2008 and 2017, west view. Now used only for painting storage.
 Love these chrome-coated steel wire shelving!

Notice the clip boards hanging on the shelves. From the beginning they were keeping track of collection locations.
In 2008 inventory lists were handwritten and now computer generated in 2017.

One of the very early painting storage that had been used in the Eames House. In 2008, only the wooden racks were present.
The same corner is now used for boxed archival storage (2017).

Eames House storage room in 2008 and 2010. Between the visits the walls were
insulated and painted. Now there are new insulated windows and light blocking shades.

At each visit there was always noticeable progress. 

Eames House, home of the Historic Society of Woodstock, in 2009 and 2017. The
addition positioned in a vulnerable corner provided a handicap bath room and a small kitchen.

 Eames House suffered water damage at this corner due to the sloping of the landscape,
adding to the high humidity levels inside. With the new addition, french drains were installed. 

The CAP was performed with Tilly Architects who gave them great guidance for how to improve the historic building while keeping its integrity. 

The dedicated group who did so much!  What a team.

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Gwen Spicer is a conservator in private practice. Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  To contact Gwen, please visit her website or send an email.

Spicer Art Conservation has gone solar!!

It is true. Spicer Art Conservation is now running on solar power! We are just so excited about this new event. It has been something that we have been working on for several years. There was the perfect southern exposure slop that was calling out for panels; and now it has them.

The solar panel installers working hard to place the framework.

At Spicer Art Conservation we have always been energy conscious. In the studio we use many energy saving techniques; using compact fluorescent, and now the newer LED light bulbs, extra thick insulation for the walls, and shades for windows, as well as maintaining the studio environment for the collections in our care to ensure good relative humidity and proper temperatures.

The panels are ready to start generating our power.

The moment of turning the panels on.

Now that the solar panels are working, we are able to monitor the amount of energy that is being produced. Spring turns out to be a great time for solar power. The chart below shows several days of sunny exposure. Where there is a dip, it is cloudy, or clouds have moved by.

Solar production chart gives a daily output of power produced.

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Gwen Spicer is a conservator in private practice. Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  To contact Gwen, please visit her website or send an email.

Mold on Pastel Portraits, why it grows and how it can be prevented

by Gwen Spicer and Barbara Owens
At Spicer Art Conservation, we treat many pastel works of art. Commonly they are portraits, but sometimes the occasional landscape or still life appears.

With few exceptions, the treatment of pastels is focused on the removal of surface mold (Above: before treatment close-up of mold damage on left, at right, overall after treatment photo). For many clients the mold present on their artwork is disfiguring and distracts from the enjoyment of the viewer, but it also serves as a "canary in a coal mine" because mold often grows in a perfect environment where temperature, and relative humidity, along with surface debris or dust has formed the perfect habitat for mold to flourish. If mold has bloomed, the environment has supported it, and if mold has bloomed on one artifact it may happen on others. For museum collections this can be of particular concern as collection are housed together, in one room or space. (Keep in mind that mold loves organic materials and we often see it on artifacts composed of wood, leather, feather, etc.)

A pastel portrait after it has been removed from its frame.
Here you can see at the lower border edge that the blue pastel
particles had fallen behind the mat.  

Closeup image of the mold that has bloomed. 

After treatment, the mold has been neutralized and is not
disfiguring. Can it come back? Yes, given the right conditions
of temperature, relative humidity, and light, it could grow again.

After treatment and reframing. Pastels are always framed with
glass because the static charge present on plexiglas will have
an effect on the small loose particles of pastel dust.

The number of pastels with mold present far outnumbers any other works of art on paper with mold present. Why is this? The answer lays much in the inherent nature of pastels. Other colored works of art (whether they are paintings or watercolors) all have some portion of binding material that protect the colored pigment. The more binder, the more protection and the more "stable" the pigment vehicle. The more binder also means the more ability for an art conservator to clean the surface. If a large amount of binder is present, the pigment vehicle (oil paint for instance) is more solid. For more information on pigments and their binders see the information below about paint.

The above is a slide from a lecture given by Carl Plansky of Williamsburg Paint.

Unlike other pigment applications, pastels have almost completely unbounded pigment with the tiniest amount of binder. Mostly the pigment particles simply rest on the surface of the paper. The selection of the paper that some artists use also assists with the adherence of the pastel to the paper, as that there are special rough surfaced papers designed especially for pastels that help to "grab" the pastel particles. But these papers are not always what the artist has used.

George L. Stout of "Monuments Men" fame produced the most effective schematic of illustrating the various types of surfaces and the "tooth" of the media. His illustration, "Classes of Simple Paint Structure" was first produced in Technical Studies Volume VI, 1938, page 231 (Technical Studies later became Studies in Conservation). See below.

From the illustration above, pastel is classified along with chalk and charcoal as granular and loose. What might be harder to read is the arrows near the center of the page which show that as you move from left to right, the absorption and transmission of light is increasing. If you think of looking at a pastel it appears flat, whereas if you look at an oil painting, or even at acrylic paints with a glazed surface, it has reflective properties and might even be described as shiny.

The presence of binders around pigment particles creates different optical effects, and more or less saturation of color. One of the beauties of pastels is the full situation of the pigment, that it is only the pigment that one sees. It is these exposed pigment particles that become the surface from which the mold grows. According to Kit Gentry, "Mold loves pastel. Dense, fluffy, mineral-rich layers of pastel are basically like potting soil for mold". Well said.

Pastels cannot be easily cleaned for a number of reasons, but especially important to the growth of mold is that dirt is attracted to the rough surface (even when protected by a frame with glass or plexiglas). The dirt then becomes a food source for the mold. The challenge then becomes removing the mold without removing the small particles of pigment which are loosely held to the surface and can easily be dislodged from the surface.

Gwen Spicer, principal conservator at Spicer Art Conservation cleaning
mold from the surface of paper. Here the mold is being vacuumed using a
method to capture the mold in a water chamber. Gwen wears gloves, mask
and eye protection. This mold cleaning is a bit different in that the mold
here is growing on the paper board, no pastel is present in this particular
 area of the artwork.

Often mold follows a particular path on the pastel, or is isolated to one pastel color, or one particular area. This odd behavior can probably be explained in that mold follows the source of food, so while you may not be able to see it, the "food" is there. Mold can be fluffy, flat, green, white, blue, etc. the variety of colors shapes and configurations tells us that many species are present, and they are opportunistic.

The mold covering this pastel covered the entire
surface, it is more noticeable on the dress of
the subject because of the dark color.

The question of why some older pastels do not have the same number of mold outbreaks has been discussed. Some experts believe that the copper, lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals and elements used in the early production of pastels are what keeps mold at bay on these very old drawing and paintings. Apparently these elements are naturally mold resistant, but of course poisonous to humans, and so are not used in the formulation of pastels the way they were in centuries past (that is not to say that pastels no longer contain hazardous materials).

There are important things to know about mold. There are 1,000's of known mold species. Mold is often dormant, not dead. Mold is omnipresent, therefore you will never be without; mold spores are airborne and therefore are in the air we breathe. Mold species have diverse lifestyles and can vary significantly in their tolerance to temperature and humidity.

We have heard from clients with mold affected pastels who say, "but my house is dry, there is no way mold should grow there". Remember, mold can certainly be kept in check, but it can generally bloom (or re-bloom) if relative humidity increases to 50% or higher, and if temperatures increase above 70   degrees F (this environment most certainly describes anyones home). However, we know that mold grows above 39 degrees F (hence is why food is refrigerated below this temperature) AND we know that mold also grows in our refrigerator which is often below 39 degrees F. The point is that mold is opportunistic and some form of it can grow nearly anywhere under any conditions.

The chart above shows the zone for "optimal mold growth" in blue. Also shown is the ideal conditions
for artifacts as well as human comfort zone.

The lesson here for keeping mold away is that pastels must be kept as clean as possible. This might mean reframing a pastel before dirt enters an unsealed frame and therefore before mold even gets the chance to grow. Any torn or broken dust paper at the back of an old frame is an entry point for dirt and debris to find its way into the frame package. Conservators have in the last few years made tremendous progress on methods of framing, creating a sealed archival package around the matted artifact, and then sealing the frame as well. This is really now made possible with truly archival materials. Once created, the sealed package is then secured into the frame (either a new frame or into the original frame). With this method, it is no longer necessary to secure dust papers to the back of the frame (see image below).

The sealing of a package of archival mounting materials with conservation
approved sealing tape. This sealed inner package will be placed into a frame
with archival materials, the frame will then be sealed (see image below).

The reverse side of a framed pastel, the pastel is framed with archival materials,
including acid free board and framers tape to seal the edges to prevent debris, dust,
or insects from entering the frame. Inside of the frame is the sealed package of
glazing and the art work (see image above).

Be warned. There are some amazingly frightening suggestions to be found online to offer assistance with getting rid of mold. Including baking your pastel in an oven along with a potato, or spraying it with liquid moth balls, YIKES. A professional art conservator is once again the way to go. Seriously, don't mess around with crazy methods or those which use toxins. Seriously.

Lastly, placing a pastel with mold on it in direct sunlight as a method to deter or disable any mold is not a good idea. While it might disable the mold that is susceptible to light, the light damage to the pigment of the pastel are both cumulative and permanent.

For further reading, The Pastel Society of America has an informative website about everything you want to know about pastels. If you own a pre-1800's pastel, Neil Jeffares book, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800, talks about everything pastel before the 19th century, including conservation. You can also check out our "Inside the Conservator's Studio" blog posts about Mold in Collections, also our post on Environmental Conditions. Both are informative, but if you have concerns about a pastel and need a conservator to help, please contact us.

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Gwen Spicer is a conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.   To contact Gwen, please visit her website or send an email.

Preservation week and the importance of preserving artifacts

A week devoted to the preservation of cultural heritage is a wonderful week indeed! We get many phone calls and email messages asking for advice or help to care for artifacts from families and museum collections.  Sometimes, the items in question are in need of care from a professional conservator, but other times the items are just not being kept as carefully as they could.  The most frequent advice we give to those looking for proper storage and care is threefold:                          

1. Watch the temperature and relative humidity of your storage/display area.  You do not want large fluctuations in either; temperature should be between 65 and 70 degrees F, and RH should always be below 50%.  The chart below illustrates the ideal conditions for the safe-keeping of artifacts.  
2. Direct light is a NO-NO!  Keep your items out of the light. Light damage is accumulative and irreversible.  "No light" is therefore the best possible environment, especially for your paper, textile and upholstered items.  
3. Use acid-free materials to support and store your collection. 

If the only thing you can do is the three items listed above, it is a great start!  The recommendation of the above three items is always followed with the next three questions:

1. How in the world do I determine relative humidity?
2. What can I cover my windows with? OR is there a UV protecting glass I can use?
3. What is "Acid Free"?

As luck would have it, there is an answer for each of these questions.

1. Relative Humidity, temperature, and light exposure can be determined quite easily and with no great expense using a HOBO data logger.  If that is just way more than you think you need, then just keep in mind the guidelines above: between 65 and 70 degrees F and below 50% humidity.
2. Cover your windows with curtains or light blocking/filtering shades or light blocking/filtering cling-style window films.  Cover your lights with diffusers.  And use UV filtering plexiglass on your framed artifacts.  And if you want to measure what kind of light a particular room or area is receiving, you can use British Wool Fading Cards to determine that.  Bottom line = Light is bad!
3. An in-depth discussion about Acid Free materials can be found in our October 2013 blog entry entitled:  "What is Acid Free?"

ALA, the American Library Association reports that after the first comprehensive national survey in 2005 of the condition and preservation needs of the nation's collections, "it was reported that U. S. institutions hold more than 4.8 billion library items. Libraries alone hold 3 billion items (which represent 63% of the whole).  A treater trove of uncounted additional items is held by individuals, families, and communities.  These collections include books, manuscripts, photographs, prints and drawings and objects such as maps, textiles, paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and furniture, to give a sample.  They include moving images and sound recordings that capture performing arts, oral history, and other records of creativity and history.  Digital collections are growing fast, and their formats quickly become obsolescent, if not obsolete".

The survey showed that, "some 630 million items in collecting institutions require immediate attention and care. Eighty percent of these institutions have no paid staff assigned responsibility for collections care; 22 percent have no collections care personnel at all. Some 2.6 billion items are not protected by an emergency plan. As natural disasters of recent years have taught us, these resources are in jeopardy should a disaster strike. Personal, family, and community collections are equally at risk."

And because of these statistics and the survey information, Preservation Week was born. Libraries and cultural heritage institutions are encouraged to use Preservation Week to connect with their local communities "through events, activities, and resources that highlight what we can do, individually and together, to preserve our personal and shared collections." If you couldn't attend a presentation in your community or anywhere else, here is a youtube link to ALA's past "Preservation Week" presentations, covering various topics on how to care for your collection. 

Of course, if in doubt about the way you are caring for (or storing) an item, or a collection, contact us!  We are happy to help. And if you think your item or collection falls into that category of the "630 items that require immediate attention and care," contact us sooner than later.

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Gwen Spicer is an art conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of artifacts is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.

Creepy, crawly, and hidden in your collection?

Recently SAC posted a couple of images of a moccasin that got some attention. Mainly because many were interested in what was found in the "out of sight" parts of this artifact. The moccasin (pictured below) was purchased ca. 1923 and was believed to be made by the Onondaga for trade purposes. Is is one of a pair that are made of semi-tanned leather and elaborately embellished with glass beads.

The beaded vamp of the moccasin before treatment.

The underside of the vamp before treatment. Here you can see that the wool layer (which should be between the leather and the vamp) is missing. The small dark regions are the moth casings. 

Traditionally, when a moccasin like this was being made, the glass beads were sewn to sandwiched pieces of paper and leather that would make up the decorative pieces of the vamp and cuff. These parts of a moccasin were typically embellished separately before being attached to the moccasin. To cover the backside of the stitching of the beads, a wool layer was commonly used to line these sections. In the case of this moccasin, the wool layer is missing, because it had been breakfast, lunch, and dinner for some hungry webbing clothes moths. Delicious!

These little, but incredibly voracious bugs have long departed from this moccasin, leaving behind the remnants of their stay: the casings in which they morphed from larvae to moth. Like most infestations, there is no simple way to know when this infestation occurred.  What is important now is that the infestation is inactive. However, as evidenced from the amount of casings found, these moths certainly were very happy when they were here.

The lifecycle of a moth.

You may wonder what it was about this location (i.e. under the vamp) that made the moths so content to stay. Webbing clothes moths (and other pests) prefer to be left alone and undisturbed. They also really like dark locations, and if the location is slightly damp and warm, it is even that much better! The fascinating part here is that webbing cloths moths also like to graze the surface of semi-tanned leather, but in this case there is no evidence of this type of damage. Therefore they were content with the wool alone.

From the exterior of this particular pair of moccasins, you would not be able to detect what was within the layers below the surface. However, being aware of the placement of the wool layer both under the vamp and cuff, and knowing that it provided a paradise location for pests, helps to understand safe storage/collection management for this particular artifact in the future.

So how do you prevent this type of damage from occurring with your artifacts? You need to practice IPM, otherwise known as Integrated Pest Management. The basic philosophy of IPM is to make your environment as inhospitable to pests as possible and to avoid the use of chemicals (read our recent post on moth balls). An inhospitable environment can be accomplished with these simple steps:

1. Inspect and "disturb" your artifacts regularly, particularly those that might be enjoyed most by pests.
2. Treat your vacuum as your best friend and use it often.
3. A cold and dry location is the best location to store your artifacts.

It is always best to avoid pest problems rather than reacting to infestation.  Remember the motto of IPM:       

"Prevention is better than cure"

If you want to know more about museum pest management check out this website: http://museumpests.net

And if you cannot help but find humor in museum pest management, you must see Historic Cherry Hill's youtube video to better understand the insect's point of view!

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Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.

Mold in museum collections is the environmental "canary in a coal mine"

A common issue found in collection storage is the presence of mold. Mold can unfortunately be found on collections, but also at times on the layers that are to protect collections. Museum professionals strive to keep their environment stable, their storage areas clean with good housekeeping practices, and surround their collections with archival materials. Yet mold out-breaks still can occur. So why does this happen, particularly if the protective layers are archival, and the environment is being monitored?

ABOVE: Mold growth on a military jacket. The jacket
was displayed on a mannequin form under glass bonnet.

It turns out that mold is a tricky organism, and it wants to live. And given a chance, live it will. And of course, museums have in their collections the perfect materials for those tenacious spores to live and set-up house.

"Microscopic molds are both very beautiful and absorbingly interesting. The rapid growth of their spores, the way they live on each other, the manner in which the different forms come and go, is so amazing and varied that I believe a man could spend his life and not exhaust the forms or problems. 

— David Fairchild

The World Was My Garden (1938, 1941), 55.

All organic materials (and even some inorganic materials) will support mold, with natural fibers being the most susceptible. Mold is a microorganism that produces enzymes that convert the cellulose in fibers to soluble sugar that is metabolized as food. Proteins are generally less susceptible, but keratinophilic fungi will feed on, and damage, these fibers as well. Mold is found first on soiled areas, but also on materials that are starched, sized, have brightens, or have in the past been treated or exposed to some substance that is still present. And sadly, all mold growth creates a permanent, irreversible stain. (See below).

ABOVE: Before treatment

ABOVE: After treatment

The photos on the left and right show mold on paper. While the mold has been reduced substantially, the permanent stains it has left behind are now part of the object.

RH = Relative humidity is a measure of the capacity of air to hold water. This amount varies as temperatures increase or decrease

Mold is omni-present and if mold is not actively growing, its spores are always in the air waiting for the ideal conditions so that they may grow. Ideal conditions for mold growth are relative humidity (above 65% with a temperature of 75 F or above (25 C). Humidity is by far the most important factor in facilitating mold growth, and if the you have an 80% RH you can be certain that mold is actively growing and it is spreading.  However, keep your temperature below 65 degrees F and your relative humidity below 50% and your collection will be quite safe.

ABOVE: this printout shows a 7 day record of temperature (in red) and the RH (in blue).

However, even at moderate conditions, an outbreak can start in a surprisingly short time. Ideal conditions for mold growth are slightly different for each mold species but mainly within this "sweet spot" of above 65% RH/75 degrees F. But remember that mold is tricky, in fact, mold growth has been noted as low as 50% RH. How can this be? Mold shouldn't grow at 50% RH!  Well, because mold is everywhere and it is a survivor, and the typical museum can not create/afford a "clean room" like those used in hospitals or high tech industry. Therefore, museums rely on creating an environment that is not conducive to growth. Key to this is keeping the relative humidity down. However, it must be noted that if a collection or an artifact has already been affected by active mold in the past, there is an increased chance of a breakout at a lower relative humidity. Think of the later mold moving into an already furnished apartment, everything they need is already there, they just need to move in where their "roots" had successfully taken hold in the past.

ABOVE: Sneaky mold. Here are three of the same types of artifacts, same material
(wood), same time period, same storage area. Yet, the artifact in the middle is almost
entirely untouched by mold while its sandwiching neighbors are nearly covered.   

Determining an actual set point for ones storage environment can be difficult as that there are many factors that are in play. One might even read conflicting recommendations. One of the issues is the amount of ventilation that an area receives. As that storage rooms are broken up by all sorts of cabinetry and shelving units, both open and closed, micro-climates can easily be created. This can especially be the case in historic structures with older HVAC systems of any kind.

The other issue, is how dirty artifacts are in the collection. The artifacts, especially in historic collections, have had an earlier life that includes the acculmative soiling and embedding dirt. All of which, mold spores love! So, even with good and regular housekeeping mold can still appear. 

As stated earlier, mold is tricky and sneaky. Perhaps you have done all of the right things and there is still a persistent out break. Well, there could be inherent issues of moisture that are beyond the specific room. A roof leak nearby, a damp basement, a leaky pipe, etc. Do not over look these seemingly small or large problems that are outside of the immediate vicinity of a mold outbreak. I have frequently come to an institution because of a mold out-break, only to find that it is the canary telling them that something else is going on.

Historical structures come with historical foundations. This
particular historical property experienced water in their basement
causing the RH to rise, causing…you guessed it, a mold outbreak in
the rooms and floors above. Did we mention that mold is sneaky?

Therefore, take any presence of mold seriously, keep your relative humidity down as low as possible, learn how the air moves in your storage space, be diligent in housekeeping, and know the "food" mold likes to eat.

Food sources for mold:

• soiling and dirt on the surface of the artifact.
• starch or other finishes that have not been washed out. Pre-washing muslin and even the twill tape has been found to be critical to remove these finishes.

ABOVE (top and bottom photos) Muslin wrapped, rolled textiles with mold on the surface of the wrapping.

LEFT: Image of detection of mold on unwashed muslin. UV light shows the mold is quite pervasive. So while the museum has done a great job of housekeeping and their storage is thoughtfully organized, the muslin coverings of their carpet/rug collection was at risk for a pervasive mold outbreak simply because the muslin was not washed prior to being used.

RIGHT: Another image of UV light to detect mold growth. This mold is growing on the twill tape straps. The twill tape was not washed prior to being used to tie the ends of the items in rolled storage.

Several years ago, the National Park Service produced a conserve-o-gram that focused on mold. Read it here. And the Smithsonian talks about mold here, which is also good reading to know more about the fungus among us. Lastly, Alaska State Museum's (ASM) experience with mold, or what they affectionately term, "white stuff", has been well documented and researched. ASM has experience and know-how about mold and how sneaky it can be - read about their battle with mold and the vigilance with which they maintain their collection here.

Do you have a mold success story? Do you have a mold challenge that seems unmeetable? The options for treatment and the factors to consider when determining how best to treat objects, textiles, or paper are numerous and often case specific. If in doubt about how a moldy artifact should be treated, call a conservator. We are always here to help!
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Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.

America had a 15-star flag when there were 18 states, and other flag trivia you might not know.

by Barbara Owens, SAC Staff

Maybe we've mentioned in a few of our posts, we treat a lot of flags.  And for us here at Spicer Art Conservation, LLC perhaps we think of it as common place that everyone else knows details of flag composition, types of flags, flag history, and what we like to think of as "flag trivia".  Not surprising, those details, as well as lots of flag trivia, are not known by many, save perhaps some of our friends at NAVA, aka the North American Vexillological Association.  We thought it would be fun to share some interesting flag facts and hope that maybe our blog readers will discover something they had not known before.

The first interesting flag fact that might not be known is that when some states became states, the number of stars on the flag did not increase automatically.  For example, the 13-star flag was the official flag when Vermont (the 14th state) and Kentucky (state #15) were both admitted to statehood.  Yet the 15 star flag did not become the new flag until nearly 3 years after Kentucky became a state.

This little tidbit of knowledge is handy when we talk about flags from the War of 1812.  And with the  200th anniversary of the War of 1812 upon us, we have received several calls and emails with photographs of flags that were thought to be War of 1812 flags.  A flag from the War of 1812 will be a 15-star AND 15-stripe flag, even though before the war even began in 1812, the United States consisted of 18 states; #16 Tennessee, #17 Ohio and #18 Louisiana. The most famous 15-star/15-stripe flag is the "Star Spangled Banner". 1818 marks the year of he next flag act.  It is here that the stripes are returned to 13 to represent the original colonies and it is suggested that a new star be added for each of he new states on July 4th following their admittance to statehood, we've been doing this ever since.

This is the 15-star flag from Fort Niagara.  It is a "Garrison" flag, meaning it is made to be so large that it will be easily seen by the enemy when flown from a fort or garrison.

Which numbered star flag existed for the shortest amount of time?  Hmmm...this is a tricky bit of trivia because of the official status of flags as described above.  So even though a state had officially become a state, it was a flag act that created a new flag with accurate star count.  And this only happened on July 4th.  But that said, certainly it did not stop the good citizens of those states from making their own unofficial flags with the number of stars sewn upon it to represent their new statehood.  Great examples of this and the answer to which amount of stars existed for the shortest amount of time is the 10 day jump from 38 to 42-stars (these are unofficial flags of course).  North and South Dakota are made states on the same day on November 2, 1889.  North Dakota is first (the 39th) so technically a 39-star flag exists for  the shortest duration, but that is not to say it is the rarest.  However, South Dakota (#40) is followed 6 days later by Montana (#41) and two days after that, Washington becomes #42.  Washington stood as the final state for about 8 months and just as soon as people were comfortable stitching a 42-star flag, Idaho became #43 the day before the next official flag resolution was passed on July 4, 1890.  Officially however, the answer is that the 20, 21, 25, 27-29, 32, 43 and 49-star flags were only official for one year each.

Interesting for us from the conservation point of view is that an early Revolutionary War era flag might appear in as good, if not better, condition than a flag constructed 100 years later.  See the flags below, each is a 34-star flag, constructed in the same time, yet the conditions are quite different.  This of course is due in part to the materials it is composed of, how it was stored, what it was exposed to and how much time it spent exposed to those conditions (excessive light, weather, water, etc)

This 34-star flag was improperly stored and suffered a tremendous amount of mold damage. 34-stars flags were official from July 4, 1861 (Kansas #34) to July 4, 1863 when West Virginia became # 35.

This 34-star flag suffered insect damage.

A 34-star flag with yet another creative star pattern.  This flag was in the most deteriorated condition of the three 34-star flags we are showing here.

Another fun fact is that the original proclamation about flag construction simply dictated how it should be composed, but not what it should actually look like.  The resolution adopted by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 14, 1777, read: “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be 13 stripes alternate red and white; that the Union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”  When you look at the two 34-star flags above you can see that they differ in the way the stars are positioned on the canton.  Not to mention the 33-star flag (Oregon #33) below and its beautiful canton with 32 stars encircling a slightly larger 33rd.  It was not until 1912 that the canton arrangement design was made official, and now of course flags have a government specification and are produced according to exacting standards.

This 33-star flag is in remarkable condition, having been stored properly and cared for  continuously.

Another interesting fact is that our current 50-stars is the longest continuous design in our history.  This past July 4th marked the 53rd year of its use.

We are often asked which is the rarest flag that has ever been treated at Spicer Art Conservation.  This is a tough question to answer as some flags are historically important, while others are one-of-a-kind, some are incredibly old, and some are privately owned and belong to extraordinary and remarkable collections.  Rare, I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder.  What I do know is that each flag that enters the studio is unique and often is accompanied by a great story which often teaches us something, adding to our own flag trivia.

To see more flags treated by Spicer Art Conservation go to our website.  If flags make you think of Betsey Ross, find some flags and trivia in another recent blog post here.
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Gwen Spicer is a textile conservator in private practice.  Spicer Art Conservation specializes in textile conservation, object conservation, and the conservation of works on paper.  Gwen's innovative treatment and mounting of flags and textiles is unrivaled.   To contact her, please visit her website.