Author Archives for rachel

Natural Science and the Law Seminar

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A joint meeting between the South West Area of Natural Science Collections (SWANS) and NatSCA on ‘Natural Science and the Law‘ has been organised for June 15th at Bristol University. Save the date, as it looks to be a very interesting and relevant seminar on law and legislation.

There will be speakers covering asbestos in geology collections, radioactive specimens, and the Nagoya protocol, which is something that we need to be aware of, as well as CITES and the laws regarding collecting and movement of dead animals.

This event is now available to book on Eventbrite. See here for details: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/natural-science-collections-and-the-law-seminar-tickets-24822253027

The Nature of Collections

The Nature of Collections: How Museums Inspire Our Connection to the Natural World

This was the theme for the NatSCA conference, held this week at the Silk Mill and Derby Museum and Art Gallery (21 – 22 April 2016), and the timing could not have been better, as I have been organising a ‘Spring Flower Power’ event at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (BMAG). With support from the staff and Bristol Naturalists Society we had a really great day, teaching the public about what is in flower at this time of year. I was also able to network with a group and a region I am wholly unfamiliar with, having worked and lived in Cardiff for many years.

The Flower Identification table at Bristol Museum (© Bristol Culture BMAG)

The Flower Identification table at Bristol Museum (© Bristol Culture BMAG)

Flowers have not been in the main hall for many years now, and they really had an impact on the staff and public. Bringing the outdoors in can be inspiring, and it is something museums have been doing for decades. I was sent the picture below by the Bristol Naturalists Society (BNS). It shows Ivor Evans, a keen and well established botanist, admiring the table he helped set up with Ida Roper back in pre-war Bristol, still going strong in the 1960s.

Ivor Evans at Bristol Musuem during the 1960s with the Flower table he helped develop (© Bristol Naturalist Society)

Ivor Evans at Bristol Musuem during the 1960s with the Flower table he helped develop (© Bristol Naturalist Society)

Victoria Purewal
Senior Curator of Natural Sciences, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
NatSCA Conservation Representative

Bournemouth’s ‘New’ Museum!

The Bournemouth Natural Science Society receives Museum Accreditation

Brighton Natural Science Society's impreesive Victorian building

Bournemouth Natural Science Society’s impressive Victorian building

The Bournemouth Natural Science Society (BNSS) is thrilled to announce its successful application to the Museum Accreditation Scheme. Our Museum Committee has been working hard for a long time to get our documents in order and up to scratch, and it is a credit to them that we are now an Accredited Museum.

The origins of the BNSS actually go back 150 years, with the 19th century passion for collecting natural objects. These early collections are now housed in the Society’s Victorian villa at 39 Christchurch Road, which is open to the public on Tuesday mornings, between 10am and 12.30pm. From archaeology to zoology, the BNSS has something to inspire and amaze!

Accreditation is granted by the Arts Council England (ACE) to museums that meet the stringent requirements imposed by their Accreditation Standard. The BNSS joins the 1,800 other museums participating in the scheme, working to manage their collections effectively for the enjoyment and benefit of users. Our Accreditation status will be renewed every three years to ensure that we are keeping up to standard.

Steve Limburn, Ray Chapman, and Maklcolm Hadley with the BNSS Accreditation certificate

Steve Limburn, Ray Chapman, and Maklcolm Hadley with the BNSS Accreditation certificate

And the work doesn’t stop here! We are continuing to catalogue and photograph our collections and make them more accessible to the community. As well as our regular Tuesday morning sessions, we also run two open days during the year. The next one is coming up on Saturday 16th April, in collaboration with the Dorset Wildlife Trust. Our Young Explorers group meets once a month, and we welcome educational visits from organisations and groups of all ages.

Of course, none of this would be possible without our wonderful and dedicated volunteers and members, who give their time and enthusiasm to make the BNSS what it is. A huge thank you goes out to them for making this success happen.

If you would like to learn any more about the BNSS, visiting times, membership, or volunteer opportunities, please contact Katherine West, Communications Officer at publicity@bnss.org.uk.

Meet the NatSCA Committee: Paolo Viscardi

Name: Paolo Viscardi

Job Title & Institution: Curator of the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL

Twitter username: @PaoloViscardi

Paolo Viscardi, in the Grant Museum's amazing Micrarium

Paolo Viscardi, in the Grant Museum’s amazing Micrarium

What is your role on the NatSCA committee?

I’m the Chair of NatSCA and my role is to oversee the strategic activities of NatSCA, making sure that we are able to respond to the changes in the wider sector. This involves discussion with other organisations, developing funding bids and working with the rest of the NatSCA committee to provide a sounding-board for ideas, suggestions for ways of approaching problems and decision-making when needed.

Natural science collections are very popular with museum visitors. Why do you think this is?

Natural history collections are accessible for a broad range of audiences. Most people have some connection with other living organisms, either through their pets, the wild animals and plants in their gardens or through what they get to see in the countryside or on wildlife documentaries; I think that the popularity of natural history collections is partly an extension of this.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing natural science collections right now?

At the moment there are a variety of challenges facing natural science collections. The obvious one is funding cuts, particularly to local authority museums. However, there are also issues arising from reductionist approaches to biology that have dominated for the last few decades, shifting scientific focus (and funding) away from whole organisms and ecology towards genetics and bioinformatics.

While these fields are important and exciting, their rise has led to a decline in specimen based research and recording, with natural history becoming marginalised. This is a real concern, since future research will presumably shift focus in order to link genetic and population modelling work with whole organisms in order to provide a context for the observations made. The damage done by the neglect in training of naturalists, the running down of collections and the reduction in active collecting over the past few decades will become a severe limitation to this endeavour.

What do you love most about natural science collections?

I love skulls. They’re beautiful examples of the compromise between inheritance and function, which I find fascinating.

Gibbon

Gibbon skull from the Horniman Museum & Gardens

What would your career be in an alternate universe without museums?

There are plenty of things I could do, but I’m not sure I’d want to do any of them enough to really consider them a career!

What is your favourite museum, and why? (It can be anywhere in the world, and doesn’t have to be natural science-related!)

The Galerie d’anatomie comparée et de Paléontologie in Paris. The ground floor display is basically my idea of the perfect place!

The Galerie d’anatomie comparée et de Paléontologie, Paris

The Galerie d’anatomie comparée et de Paléontologie, Paris

Project Airless

‘Project Airless’ is a three year venture that began in August 2015 at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, with the objective of treating and preventing pyrite decay in the Museum’s historic earth sciences collections.

Pyrite Decay

Pyrite, or ‘fool’s gold’ (iron sulphide), is a common mineral of varying crystal structure (though cubic is common) that can often be found in or around fossils. It can occur in a compact, crystallized and stable form – or as a porous, microcrystalline and unstable form.

Pyrite oxidation, or ‘decay’, can occur when the mineral reacts with atmospheric oxygen in relative humidities (RH) above 60%. The resulting by-products of this oxidation depend on the mineral composition of the fossil and matrix, but often comprise sulphuric acid and hydrated ferrous sulphates, which can be very harmful to specimens, labels, and storage media. Once pyrite has begun to oxidise, mineral hydrates will form at as low as 30% RH. Signs that pyrite oxidation is occurring include expansion cracks, white or yellowish acicular crystal formations, and a sulphurous odour.

Distressing scenes for fossil enthusiasts: a drawer of fossils with pyrite decay

Distressing scenes for fossil enthusiasts

Method

Three conservation technicians have been surveying the collections and recording where pyrite decay is occurring amongst the NHM’s 7 million fossils and 500,000 mineralogical specimens.

Hunting high and low for signs of pyrite oxidation; conservators check drawers for suffering specimens

Hunting high and low for signs of pyrite oxidation

Affected specimens are temporarily removed from the collection, photographed, and a condition report created for the specimen on the Museum’s collections database. Following this, any remedial treatments are undertaken as necessary (ammonia gas treatment, for example). The fossil is then placed in an acid-free tray within a Plastazote inlay for protection. To prevent further oxidation, the specimens are heat-sealed in a NeoEscal barrier film bag with oxygen scavenging sachets, forming an anoxic microenvironment. Once sealed, the technicians complete a process report and return the fossil to the collections. This work is being undertaken in advance of the development of a new Earth and Planetary Science building, which will have a more efficiently controlled environment.

Specimens re-housed in an anoxic microenvironment, sealed in a bag

Specimens re-housed in an anoxic microenvironment

Treatments

Once a specimen has been assessed for pyrite decay, there are some remedial treatments the conservation technicians can undertake, depending on the severity. The first of these is the removal of any white/yellowish crystals by dry brushing, followed by consolidating any cracks in both the fossil and the matrix with Paraloid B72 in Acetone.

If a figured or type specimen is exhibiting signs of severe pyrite oxidation, a cast can be made in order to preserve morphological detail before it deteriorates further. However, moulding and casting carry risks for fragile specimens.

Ammonia gas treatment is a method that successfully neutralizes sulphuric acid produced by pyrite oxidation, and involves exposing specimens to the vapour emitted by a mixture of ammonium hydroxide and PEG 400 (polyethylene glycol) within an enclosed polyethylene or glass container. The vapours from the ammonium hydroxide react with the decay products, turning the affected areas a brick-red colour.

Team Airless to the rescue!

Team Airless to the rescue!

The Future

According to current estimates, 14,000 specimens at the Museum are in urgent need of this protective measure. As the project progresses, the team hopes that they will be able to share knowledge and expertise with other museums and institutions that may be facing the same problems as the NHM. Images generated for each specimen during the project should vastly improve the Museum’s collection database – and may even limit the need to open the bags. While ensuring that these valuable specimens remain intact, and of use for years to come, the project is also increasing digital access and reducing unnecessary handling by using a web based application to associate images with each specimen’s unique barcode.

Kieran Miles, Matthew Porter, and Amy Trafford

NHM, London