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Monday, December 11, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
f i n a l s:
the holiday escape
12 Days of Finals Drawing
A drawing each day beginning Dec.11th
Prizes include:
Dec. 11th: 6 tickets to the KU vs. Pepperdine Game on Dec. 16th Dec.
12th: Two Russell Athletics Sweatsuits Dec. 13th: 18-Speed Bicycle
Dec. 14th: 5" B & W Television Dec. 15th: 6 tickets to the KU vs.
Arizona St. Game on Dec. 22nd Dec. 16th: 4' Stocking filled with
merchandise (min. $200 value) Dec. 17th: 36 free video tape rentals,
two for each weekend during the Spring Semester Dec. 18th: Yamaha
Razz Motor Scooter Dec. 19th: 4' Stocking filled with merchandise
(min. $200 value) Dec. 20th: Two Russell Athletics Sweatsuits Dec.
21st: Priceless Banner from the 1988 NCAA Midwest Regional Basket-
ball Tourney, Pontiac Mich. Dec. 22nd: KU Cross Pen & Pencil Set.
Also: Free Textbooks drawing at both of our buyback locations!
KU Bookstores
Kansas and Burge Unions
No Purchase Required. Union Employees and Their Families Are Not Eligible.
--for your patronage of our copy centers this past semester.
Thank You
Good Luck On Finals!!
Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season
from the
University of Kansas Printing Service
Copy Centers
Wescoe Kansas Union
Burge Union Learned Hall
Museums struggle to prevent deterioration of their exhibits
Temperature control is one way to avoid decaying of artifacts
By Anita Meyer
Kansan staff writer
The signs in the Museum of Anthropology ask, "What happens when a culture dies?" But the exhibits that represent that culture may be dying themselves.
Ann Schlager, conservator of the museum, said that heat and humidity control was important in saving artifacts. The museum's staff members are now trying to prevent the decomposition of the artifacts housed there.
"When Spooner Hall was built as the University's first library, it was difficult to control humidity or heat," she said. "When we moved in here in 1979, we got boxes and boxes of stuff that had been stored all over. There was some stuff that was almost completely gone. We had weavings from the early 1800s that are just threads.
"A lot of damage had occurred because there were large fluctuations in insect and humidity. Much of the damage was caused by thrips."
She said that the museum had been able to stabilize deterioration of much of the collection but that some of it was already destroyed.
"We had some Southwest weavings that were in tatters," she said. "Some of our basket collection was destroyed because of rodents and cockroaches eating food remains."
She said that ideal temperatures for mixed materials that included wood, leather and beads were 68 to 72 degrees with a fluctuation of 5 degrees within a 24-hour period. Ideal humidity was 45 to 55 percent with a 5
percent fluctuation within a 24-hour period.
"I'm able to control the heat with window air-conditioners," she said. "I can pretty much control the humidity with humidifiers or de-humidifiers."
Schlager not only tries to keep the museum of anthropology's exhibits intact, she also travels across the state surveying collections and giving advice for maintenance.
The conservation program is not limited to museums. Schlager said she has been coordinating a class that teaches conservation to museum studies majors. The course, *Procedures and Procedures*, is taught every two years in the spring.
George Byers, curator emeritus of the museum of entomology, said he was not concerned about controlling heat or humidity in the Museum of Entomology.
He said that the museum had been evaluated in 1906, eight years after its opening, and that no deterioration had occurred.
"We don't really have a lot of deterioration," he said. "Some of the insects fade from exposure to light, and we do have some that are brittle, but there's not that much deterioration.
John Wilson, curator of American and European art at the Spencer Museum of Art, said that because the museum had been built as a museum, heat and humidity controls had been installed.
Schlager said that the museums of anthropology and natural history were two museums on campus that had received grants for artifact conservation.
Sandstone search prevents repairs
By Liz Hueben
Kansan staff writer
For more than 10 years, University officials have been trying to find out where the red sandstone used to build the Museum of Anthropology came from, said Allen Wiechert, director of facilities planning.
This problem, coupled with a lack of financing, has kept facilities planning officials from being able to maintain the museum, also called Snooner Hall.
The University this year received $100,000 for repairs to the building, which will be 100 years old in 1994, Wiechert said.
Wiechert said repairs to the building had been on a list of things to do for about 10 years but became high priority last year.
Although the $100,000 was not
enough to complete repairs, he said it would at least help get them started in the areas that needed it the most.
The columns in the front of the building have sustained noticeable damage from water. The northern column on the front of the building is starting to crack and lean away from the building.
Wiechert said the repairs would be expensive. They would involve stabilization of settlement and moving the stone back into place.
The elements have taken their toll on the sandstone, which Wiechert said was not a good building material.
Wiechert said the other stone used on the building was limestone, which came from Mount Oread. He said the limestone was more dense than the sandstone and had held up better through the years.
Because sandstone is porous, he said, water can get into the columns and freeze during the winter.
Grisafe said the question of the sandstone's origin had been a tough one because of a lack of references.
David Grisafe, associate scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey, said another problem with sandstone
"That is a common problem with historic buildings. No records were kept, especially on the outside of the building. We can't find the quarry," he said.
was that it was poorly bonded and tended to flake off easily. But it would with a stone strengthener probably would help consolidate the stone.
Grisafe said that research led him to believe that the sandstone came from Colorado but that he didn't know precisely where.
Monday-
December 11th
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Kansas Union Main Lobby
sponsored by Minority affairs and