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Conservation Guidelines for Invertebrate Paleontology Collections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

Janet B. Waddington
Janet B. Waddington*
Affiliation:
Department of Palaeobiology, Royal Ontario Museum 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6 Canada
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Extract

THE TERM CONSERVATION refers to the whole subject of the care and treatment of valuable materials. Its definition is two-fold: (1) the control of the environment to minimize the decay of artifacts and materials; and (2) treatment of materials to arrest decay and to stabilize them against further deterioration. Restoration is the continuation of the treatment to return an object without falsification to a state in which it can be displayed (Howie, 1992; series editor's preface). The vast number of specimens in invertebrate paleontology collections makes treatment or restoration impractical or even impossible except for remarkable display specimens. It is possible, however, to control the environment, both physical and procedural, in which collections are maintained. It is easier to prevent deterioration than to fix it once it has occurred. This is the principle of preventive conservation.

There is a general misconception, held by many paleontologists, that there are no conservation concerns with paleontology collections, or, if any, the concerns are minor. This unfortunately is not the case; although fossils and their rock matrix have lasted hundreds of millions of years in the earth, once excavated they are subject to many forces of destruction (Crowther and Collins, 1987). Problems in collections occur as a result of many different factors: inappropriate storage environment; inappropriate application of a “universal” treatment; or unstable materials used in preparation and treatment. Minerals such as pyrite may oxidize; shales crack and delaminate. Prepared specimens may include introduced materials such as consolidants and glues that themselves are subject to deterioration. Research into conservation of natural history materials has grown significantly over the past two decades. This paper will emphasize preventive conservation principles to address some of the conservation concerns particularly relevant to paleontological specimens and suggest some practical ways of reducing the risks to the collections.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 10: Guidelines for the Management and Curation of Invertebrate Fossil Collections including a Data Model and Standards for Computerization , 2000 , pp. 93 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by The Paleontological Society 

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