Email digest for the Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList) egroup. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. RE: Icon Emerging Professionals Conference 2025 2. RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution 3. RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution 4. Position Closing Date 6/9/25--Conservator for Special Collections (Books)--Cornell University Library ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.From: Joanne Fulton Posted: Wednesday June 4, 2025 8:45 AM Subject: RE: Icon Emerging Professionals Conference 2025 Message: Speakers and Posters have been announced for the Icon Emerging Professionals Conference 2025 being held in-person on Friday 25th July at Durham University! This event is open to all, from aspiring conservators seeking to learn more about conservation to more experienced conservators interested in the work of their peers. Our list of speakers includes: Richard Mulholland – Assistant Professor, Northumbria University Phil Pollard – Heritage Career Pathways Manager, Historic England Huw Bonner – Head of Conservation, The National Library of Wales Sophie McAloone – Conservation Manager, The Fine Art Restoration Company Laura Moon-Schott – Book Conservator, Durham University Tony King – Senior Collections Care and Conservation Manager, Durham University Emily Williams – Associate Professor, Durham University Presented by students, academics, and early career professionals, the poster session will give attendees to hear and discuss various conservation projects connected to our conference theme of opportunities and collaborations. Posters include: Study and conservation of a seals collection: methodology, materials and best conservation practices in the case study of the State Archive of Sant'Ivo in Rome - Andrea Busto Rare Repair: Conserving a 15th Century Venetian Plate with a 19th Century Repair - Susan Deutsch Turning over a new leaf: Introducing preventive conservation and collections care at Pitmedden Garden - Katharine Donaldson & Alice Law Developing a decision-making process for preventive conservation strategies for plastic materials by focusing on the experiences of museum professionals - Ece Erman Crafting Careers in Conservation: Historic England's Heritage Skills Building Program - Ellen Hunt PlastIC Possibilities: Exploring Collaboration and Innovation in Plastics Conservation - Erato Kartaki The Pit and the Pendulum: The Post-Medieval Pottery Reconstructions of T.C. Lethbridge - Jesse Lundervold Getting Ship Shape - Crystal Maison A Technician's Tour of Shakespeare Recovered - Isabelle Morse Learning Through Collaboration: A Research Fellow's Perspective on Collaboration and Co-Creation - Sky-Lyn Munoz Conservation Outreach: Talks with Makers - Isabella Rossi Making The Work Visible: Conservation Placement at an Archive - Auriel Tiltman Beads, Breakdown, and Breakthroughs: Conservation Discoveries through Collaboration - Stephanie Wong The first Icon EPN AGM will also be held at this event. For tickets and more information about the conference, please follow the link below: https://www.icon.org.uk/events/icon-epn-conference-agm-2025-opportunities-and-collaborations.html <https://www.icon.org.uk/events/icon-epn-conference-agm-2025-opportunities-and-collaborations.html> ------------------------------ Joanne Fulton Conservator (Collections Care) Durham University Library United Kingdom ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 05-20-2025 08:05 From: Joanne Fulton Subject: Icon Emerging Professionals Conference 2025 Tickets are available for the Icon Emerging Professionals Conference & AGM 2025!The Conference will be held on Friday 25th July 2025 at Durham University, UK. The event has been planned as an in-person event, as we hope for both emerging conservators and experienced conservators to enjoy a friendly setting for sharing and networking.The day will be split into three sessions: talks on 'Launching a Career'; a Poster Session with posters from emerging conservators; and talks on 'Collaborative Cross-disciplinary Projects'. Speakers will be announced shortly on our Instagram (@icon_emerging_professionals) and the event webpage linked below.Icon EPN are very excited to be able to hold our first ever in-person event to bring together emerging conservators, students, interested parties, and established professionals across conservation specialisms.More information can be found here: Icon EPN Conference & AGM 2025: Opportunities and Collaborations <https://www.icon.org.uk/events/icon-epn-conference-agm-2025-opportunities-and-collaborations.html> or you can email [email protected] <[email protected]> if you have any questions about the event.This is open to both Icon Members and Non-members. Early Bird Tickets (£35 for Student Members, £40 for Icon Members, and £54 for Non Icon Members) are available until 25th May.We look forward to seeing you there! ------------------------------ Joanne Fulton Conservator (Collections Care) Durham University United Kingdom ------------------------------ 2.From: James Moss Posted: Wednesday June 4, 2025 8:45 AM Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution Message: Monona, Thank you for your reply. As taught by you and mostly learned by me, the things that we dont know can be more important than the things that we know. Ive always remembered a workshop you gave at a Washington DC AIC meeting: it was always part of my professional development education and, yes, you did mention the UNKNOWNS! Anyway, here is Section 11 of the SDS: Supersedes Revision: 02/04/2015 11. Toxicological Information Acute toxicity. No data available. Respiratory or skin sensitization: Germ cell mutagenicity. Reproductive toxicity - no data available. Specific target organ toxicity -single exposure (Globally Harmonized System) Specific target organ toxicity -repeated exposure (Globally Harmonized System) Aspiration hazard. Epidemiology: No information found. Teratogenicity: No information available. Reproductive Effects: Mutagenicity: Neurotoxicity: CAS# 68439-46-3: Acute toxicity, LD50, Oral, Rat, 1378. MG/KG. Good to hear from you! Jim ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 6/3/2025 8:53:00 AM From: Monona Rossol Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution James, I don't think you've got a less toxic product there at all. The quaternary amines, like all new chemicals in commerce, were assumed to be nontoxic. Then a company that breeds mice and rats for toxicity test, rodents whose genetic parameters are well-known, suddenly saw mouse and rat off-spring with spinal bifida. The only thing that had changed was their cages were now cleaned with a product containing quats. That led to more experiments showing birth defects. And the cancer potential still hasn't been assessed, but they clearly can mess with us. (Good coverage of this is in the August 2, 2020 Chemical & Engineering News, VOL98, ISSUE 30.) It is my premise that section 11, Toxicity, on the SDS should be looked at to provide information on both what is known and what is NOT KNOWN. And most of our chemicals only have at best a little acute data. Just look at that section and see what data is actually there. When there is no data on chronic hazards that means the chemical has never been tested for chronic hazards. Or when they make those stupid statements about the chemical not being listed as a carcinogen by IARC, NTP or OSHA, realize that they aren't listed because the chemical has never been tested for cancer.. As long as our laws assume chemicals are safe until proven guilty, and as long as it is rare when new chemicals are taken to trial (chronic toxicity studies), good precautions should be exercised with them all. If it is not good food, don't allow it in your body. I'll take a pill and lie down now. ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 6/2/2025 7:10:00 AM From: James Moss Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution A CORRECTION to my original posting and a THANK YOU. This weekend, Howard Wellman gently pointed out to me that I had used the wrong SDS (similar name but different product) in my original posting. This was the result of Googling "d2 cleaner sds"! What I should have done is gone to D2 Biologics "About" page and opened up their link to their SDS. I am greatly embarrassed!!! The following sentence in the first paragraph needs to be modified: "I've looked at D2's WEB site and their product SDS (mixture contains trisodium nitrilotriacetate and sodium metasilicate, anhydrous which are considered hazardous chemicals to humans). " THEIR PRODUCT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY OF THESE CHEMICALS The CORRECTED sentence should read: "I've looked at D2's WEB site and their product SDS, Section 3 "Composition/Information on Ingredients" reproduced below: CAS # Chemical Name Concentration by wt. 7732-18-5 Water 85 - 97% 68424-85-1 Quaternary ammonium compounds, ADBAC blend < 1% 68424-95-3 Quaternary ammonium compounds, DDAC blend < 1% 68439-46-3 Non-ionic surfactant 2 - 4%" Supersedes Revision: 02/04/2015 Reference: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/646546ce4f831c0ce0779a7c/t/648e43a306a583532ea2ceef/1687045027882/SDS_D2-2019_rev_1.pdf <https://static1.squarespace.com/static/646546ce4f831c0ce0779a7c/t/648e43a306a583532ea2ceef/1687045027882/SDS_D2-2019_rev_1.pdf> NOW, the THANK YOUs: Thank you to all of you who responded to my query. You have given me a lot to think about. I am very grateful that you took some time out of your busy life to share your thoughts and ideas with me. I had no idea that I would be dealing with biological films and quats (to the best of my knowledge, those are not seen or used in clocks!). AND, thank you, AIC/FAIC for sponsoring/supporting the Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList) Best Regards, Jim Moss ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 5/30/2025 1:20:00 PM From: Howard Wellman Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution Jim, There have been a lot of great responses to your original query, but I realized that some of the issues you raised may not have been addressed. So I took the time to go review the SDS on the D/2 website and also dig out my notes from my personal discussions with the developers and manufacturer of D/2. 1) I cannot find mention of the two chemicals you cite (trisodium nitrilotriacetate and sodium metasilicate, anhydrous) in the SDS. Can you tell me where you saw those? 2) A couple years ago I called Tony Kinnari at D/2 and asked about the ammonia content in a quaternary ammonium compound, specifically because I was concerned about reaction with bronze plaques and hardware on gravestones. I was told that the chemistry of "ammonium" in this case refers to a nitrogen with three branching functional groups, not to the specific molecule NH3 of ammonia, which is not present in D/2. So this should ease fears about its effect on copper alloys. Although as you say in your message, no one is likely to use D/2 on a bronze object deliberately, since bronze doesn't grow that kind of biological community. 3) I also asked about the presence of free chloride ions (many quats are ammonium chloride salts) (and forgive me if I do make incorrect chemical names here), based on my worries about the effects of chloride on iron alloys used in gravestone hardware. They pointed out (and see the SDS) that in the D/2 product, the quats are 2% of the total mixture, therefore, free chloride ion is likewise 2%, which is far less than most other commercial cleaning products, especially bleaches. You might get that much free chloride ion wicking up through the gravestone from groundwater? Which explains why so many historic gravestones already suffer from corroding iron pins prior to the use of modern cleaners? 4) Jason Church at NCPTT who did many of those tests on D/2 did not find any damage to stone from recrystallization of the chemical, if it even occurred. 5) Regarding human safety, I admit that I find the odor of D/2 harsh, but don't forget that hospitals and food service industries have been using similar quats for years as surface sanitizers, and especially during the pandemic. Maybe there are subtle differences between those quats and D/2 that I'm not aware of, and I regret that I haven't read any specific publications addressing those questions. I hope that this contributes to the conversation. Sincerely, Howard ------------------------------ Howard Wellman Halethorpe MD ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 05-27-2025 08:40 From: James Moss Subject: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution Dear Colleagues, I am a Cemetery Commissioner in my small Town (I am also a retired Conservator of Clocks). Members of my Committee have suggested using a commercial product called D2 to clean the gravestones of lichens and accumulated atmospheric "dirt". I've looked at D2's WEB site and their product SDS (mixture contains trisodium nitrilotriacetate and sodium metasilicate, anhydrous which are considered hazardous chemicals to humans). Their WEB site [ https://www.d2bio.com/ <https://www.d2bio.com/> ] claims the following: "National Parks Study Recommends D/2 for Government Headstone Cleaning" : Researchers studied five different cleaners on stones located in five different climates at locations across the United States. Microbiologists at Harvard University evaluated samples for regrowth of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and algae. D/2's quaternary ammonium solution came out on top! [Note: any mention of ammonia or its relations immediately causes my antennae to arise because it can cause Stress Corrosion Cracking of brass, a metal that 80% of clocks are made with] AND: The National Cemetery Administration now uses D/2. "The NCA entered into an agreement with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, NPS, to evaluate marble cleaners in an effort to minimize damage to historic headstones. The 3-phase study began in 2004 and was completed in 2011. The best - practice recommendations resulted in NCA's determination to use the preferred cleaner, D/2 Biological Solution..." (Page 3) AND: "No Other Solution is more trusted by conservators" Cleaning of Stone is not my specialty, I have not been trained to do stone treatments. I know nothing about the effects of using the wrong chemical solutions or procedures on stone. All that I am aware of is that stone is porous and solutions can penetrate the stone and could cause long term degradation. I will attempt to contact a Conservator whose specialty is the cleaning of stone. In the meantime, I turn to you as a font of knowledge..... My first question to you is: Is using this commercial solution harmful to the stones that are commonly used as cemetery markers such as slate, granite, and marble (aluminum and brass are also used but as far as I know, D2 is not used to clean these metals)? My second question is: If D2 is not acceptable are there other safe methods that could be used by non-Conservators or Citizen Volunteers that would not cause short or long term harm to these objects? Your insights, help, and guidance would be most appreciated. Sincerely Jim Moss, Horological Conservator, AIC PA retired 3.From: Olaf Pung Posted: Wednesday June 4, 2025 3:53 PM Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution Message: My experience with quarts: I had a maintenance contract for a public monument Made of sandstone and limestone, every two years I cleaned ist with a hot preasure cleaner and treated ist with a solution of 1% benzalconium chloride. Sven comparing photos, I nötiges that although the lichen was removed from the surface each time, it had grown back in the exactly the same places the next time. My conclusion: considering the health and environmental Rosis, its not worth it! Olaf Pung, stone conservator from germany ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 6/3/2025 8:53:00 AM From: Monona Rossol Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution James, I don't think you've got a less toxic product there at all. The quaternary amines, like all new chemicals in commerce, were assumed to be nontoxic. Then a company that breeds mice and rats for toxicity test, rodents whose genetic parameters are well-known, suddenly saw mouse and rat off-spring with spinal bifida. The only thing that had changed was their cages were now cleaned with a product containing quats. That led to more experiments showing birth defects. And the cancer potential still hasn't been assessed, but they clearly can mess with us. (Good coverage of this is in the August 2, 2020 Chemical & Engineering News, VOL98, ISSUE 30.) It is my premise that section 11, Toxicity, on the SDS should be looked at to provide information on both what is known and what is NOT KNOWN. And most of our chemicals only have at best a little acute data. Just look at that section and see what data is actually there. When there is no data on chronic hazards that means the chemical has never been tested for chronic hazards. Or when they make those stupid statements about the chemical not being listed as a carcinogen by IARC, NTP or OSHA, realize that they aren't listed because the chemical has never been tested for cancer.. As long as our laws assume chemicals are safe until proven guilty, and as long as it is rare when new chemicals are taken to trial (chronic toxicity studies), good precautions should be exercised with them all. If it is not good food, don't allow it in your body. I'll take a pill and lie down now. ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 6/2/2025 7:10:00 AM From: James Moss Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution A CORRECTION to my original posting and a THANK YOU. This weekend, Howard Wellman gently pointed out to me that I had used the wrong SDS (similar name but different product) in my original posting. This was the result of Googling "d2 cleaner sds"! What I should have done is gone to D2 Biologics "About" page and opened up their link to their SDS. I am greatly embarrassed!!! The following sentence in the first paragraph needs to be modified: "I've looked at D2's WEB site and their product SDS (mixture contains trisodium nitrilotriacetate and sodium metasilicate, anhydrous which are considered hazardous chemicals to humans). " THEIR PRODUCT DOES NOT CONTAIN ANY OF THESE CHEMICALS The CORRECTED sentence should read: "I've looked at D2's WEB site and their product SDS, Section 3 "Composition/Information on Ingredients" reproduced below: CAS # Chemical Name Concentration by wt. 7732-18-5 Water 85 - 97% 68424-85-1 Quaternary ammonium compounds, ADBAC blend < 1% 68424-95-3 Quaternary ammonium compounds, DDAC blend < 1% 68439-46-3 Non-ionic surfactant 2 - 4%" Supersedes Revision: 02/04/2015 Reference: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/646546ce4f831c0ce0779a7c/t/648e43a306a583532ea2ceef/1687045027882/SDS_D2-2019_rev_1.pdf <https://static1.squarespace.com/static/646546ce4f831c0ce0779a7c/t/648e43a306a583532ea2ceef/1687045027882/SDS_D2-2019_rev_1.pdf> NOW, the THANK YOUs: Thank you to all of you who responded to my query. You have given me a lot to think about. I am very grateful that you took some time out of your busy life to share your thoughts and ideas with me. I had no idea that I would be dealing with biological films and quats (to the best of my knowledge, those are not seen or used in clocks!). AND, thank you, AIC/FAIC for sponsoring/supporting the Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList) Best Regards, Jim Moss ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 5/30/2025 1:20:00 PM From: Howard Wellman Subject: RE: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution Jim, There have been a lot of great responses to your original query, but I realized that some of the issues you raised may not have been addressed. So I took the time to go review the SDS on the D/2 website and also dig out my notes from my personal discussions with the developers and manufacturer of D/2. 1) I cannot find mention of the two chemicals you cite (trisodium nitrilotriacetate and sodium metasilicate, anhydrous) in the SDS. Can you tell me where you saw those? 2) A couple years ago I called Tony Kinnari at D/2 and asked about the ammonia content in a quaternary ammonium compound, specifically because I was concerned about reaction with bronze plaques and hardware on gravestones. I was told that the chemistry of "ammonium" in this case refers to a nitrogen with three branching functional groups, not to the specific molecule NH3 of ammonia, which is not present in D/2. So this should ease fears about its effect on copper alloys. Although as you say in your message, no one is likely to use D/2 on a bronze object deliberately, since bronze doesn't grow that kind of biological community. 3) I also asked about the presence of free chloride ions (many quats are ammonium chloride salts) (and forgive me if I do make incorrect chemical names here), based on my worries about the effects of chloride on iron alloys used in gravestone hardware. They pointed out (and see the SDS) that in the D/2 product, the quats are 2% of the total mixture, therefore, free chloride ion is likewise 2%, which is far less than most other commercial cleaning products, especially bleaches. You might get that much free chloride ion wicking up through the gravestone from groundwater? Which explains why so many historic gravestones already suffer from corroding iron pins prior to the use of modern cleaners? 4) Jason Church at NCPTT who did many of those tests on D/2 did not find any damage to stone from recrystallization of the chemical, if it even occurred. 5) Regarding human safety, I admit that I find the odor of D/2 harsh, but don't forget that hospitals and food service industries have been using similar quats for years as surface sanitizers, and especially during the pandemic. Maybe there are subtle differences between those quats and D/2 that I'm not aware of, and I regret that I haven't read any specific publications addressing those questions. I hope that this contributes to the conversation. Sincerely, Howard ------------------------------ Howard Wellman Halethorpe MD ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- Original Message: Sent: 05-27-2025 08:40 From: James Moss Subject: Cleaning Gravestones with D/2 Biological Solution Dear Colleagues, I am a Cemetery Commissioner in my small Town (I am also a retired Conservator of Clocks). Members of my Committee have suggested using a commercial product called D2 to clean the gravestones of lichens and accumulated atmospheric "dirt". I've looked at D2's WEB site and their product SDS (mixture contains trisodium nitrilotriacetate and sodium metasilicate, anhydrous which are considered hazardous chemicals to humans). Their WEB site [ https://www.d2bio.com/ <https://www.d2bio.com/> ] claims the following: "National Parks Study Recommends D/2 for Government Headstone Cleaning" : Researchers studied five different cleaners on stones located in five different climates at locations across the United States. Microbiologists at Harvard University evaluated samples for regrowth of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and algae. D/2's quaternary ammonium solution came out on top! [Note: any mention of ammonia or its relations immediately causes my antennae to arise because it can cause Stress Corrosion Cracking of brass, a metal that 80% of clocks are made with] AND: The National Cemetery Administration now uses D/2. "The NCA entered into an agreement with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, NPS, to evaluate marble cleaners in an effort to minimize damage to historic headstones. The 3-phase study began in 2004 and was completed in 2011. The best - practice recommendations resulted in NCA's determination to use the preferred cleaner, D/2 Biological Solution..." (Page 3) AND: "No Other Solution is more trusted by conservators" Cleaning of Stone is not my specialty, I have not been trained to do stone treatments. I know nothing about the effects of using the wrong chemical solutions or procedures on stone. All that I am aware of is that stone is porous and solutions can penetrate the stone and could cause long term degradation. I will attempt to contact a Conservator whose specialty is the cleaning of stone. In the meantime, I turn to you as a font of knowledge..... My first question to you is: Is using this commercial solution harmful to the stones that are commonly used as cemetery markers such as slate, granite, and marble (aluminum and brass are also used but as far as I know, D2 is not used to clean these metals)? My second question is: If D2 is not acceptable are there other safe methods that could be used by non-Conservators or Citizen Volunteers that would not cause short or long term harm to these objects? Your insights, help, and guidance would be most appreciated. Sincerely Jim Moss, Horological Conservator, AIC PA retired 4.From: Michele Hamill Posted: Wednesday June 4, 2025 8:18 PM Subject: Position Closing Date 6/9/25--Conservator for Special Collections (Books)--Cornell University Library Message: Hello Everyone, The position for the Conservator for Special Collections, with a focus on bound material, will be closing at midnight (12:00AM), Monday June 9. Applications will be accepted until that time. A cover letter and CV are required and a link to an online portfolio or PDF is encouraged. Please apply here: <https://cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCareerPage/job/Ithaca-Main-Campus/Conservator-for-Special-Collections--Cornell-University-Library_WDR-00053092-1> <https://cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/CornellCareerPage/job/Conservator-for-Special-Collections--Cornell-University-Library_WDR-00053092-1>https://cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCareerPage/job/Ithaca-Main-Campus/Conservator-for-Special-Collections--Cornell-University-Library_WDR-00053092-1 <https://cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCareerPage/job/Ithaca-Main-Campus/Conservator-for-Special-Collections--Cornell-University-Library_WDR-00053092-1> Please contact me with any questions and thank you. ------------------------------ Michele Hamill Head Conservator Cornell University Library Ithaca, NY 14853 607-351-7269 [email protected] ------------------------------ You are subscribed to "Global Conservation Forum (ConsDistList)" as [email protected]. 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