Anne— I have a few thoughts to offer on your pressed flowers.
My main responsibilities are in our book and paper collections, but every now and then I treat some of our herbarium specimens and other items with pressed plants. Because botanists use these materials, my interventions need to be minimal. I never remove plants from their supports; I never deacidify (aqueously or nonaqueously); I never wash; and I never consolidate with tissues or sprays (such as paste or methylcel). I do reattach loose material with a paste/methylcel mix and have made special enclosures for some of our more historically significant specimens so they can be handled without causing damage to them. Most of our herbarium specimens are stored horizontally in lignin free/acid free folders in cold conditions (upper 50s). If you don’t have many plants, you may want to consider putting them in mat-like enclosures and stacking them for storage. If botanists aren’t going to use your pressed plants (ever), I would consider adding spray consolidation to the options above. I would also like to point out that plant material is chemically unstable by nature and causes more damage to its paper support than visa-versa. Susie Cobbledick Book and Paper Conservator Missouri Botanical Garden Library ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
