I have heard carpenter ants nesting in a door.  Sounded like rice crispies.



At 02:04 PM 9/23/2008, you wrote:
This is a message from the Pest Management Database List. To post to this list send it as an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe look at the footer of this email. -----------------------------------------------------------

I am hoping that someone out there will validate that it is actually possible to hear insects eating the interior of birch logs?  Unfortunately we appear to have several large green birch logs, with existing bark, that are infested located inside a building.  The sound is quite audible.  There is darker, pepper-like frass located under one of the logs and a much lighter fluffier powder located on the log itself in at least three exit hole locations.

Fortunately these logs are resting on a concrete floor with no other organic material in their vicinity.  I am considering applying Bora-Care to the logs as they can not be relocated until January.

I would love to hear from anyone who could comment on the audible quality of the insect activity.

Thank you,

Ingrid Neuman


-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Sep 9, 2008 4:36 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [pestlist] Cryptomeria japonica pests?

Ingrid -

I agree with Hugh Glover; the hands may have been made of sapwood and therefore susceptible to attack from wood-boring beetles.  The remainder of the Buddha might be heartwood, which is immune from beetle infestation.  Such an old figure may have lost its natural resin protection to insect attack over the years through volatilization of the resins.

OR

the hands could be made of another wood during a repair many years ago.  This wood may have had eggs or larvae already in the wood when it was carved and took a few years to finally die out.  This scenario is fairly common, especially with mountings and mounting repairs.

OR

if this figure is covered in gesso, someone has picked off the gesso or it has fallen away over time, revealing old larval beetle galleries centuries old (I've seen this several times in my career).

AND

discovery of larval galleries in such an old piece indicates it's probably not active and there's no cause for concern with respect to current activity.

Thomas A. Parker, PhD
President, Entomologist
Pest Control Services, Inc.
469 Mimosa Circle
Kennett Square, PA 19348
610-444-1765
www.museumpestcontrol.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Hugh P. Glover <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 3:36 pm
Subject: Re: [pestlist] Cryptomeria japonica pests?

Ingrid
Is it possible that the hands are sapwood and have a higher starch content.
Hugh Glover. Williamstown Art Conservation Center

 
On 9/9/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This is a message from the Pest Management Database List. To post to this list send it as an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe look at the footer of this email. -----------------------------------------------------------

I would like to ask if any other museum people have experience with the type of wood called Cryptomeria japonica which we belive to be the species used to carve a 17-18th c  Japanese Buddha figure that sits 9' high.  There are parts of the Buddha which exhibit more wood boring insect damage than other parts and I am suspicious that the hands, for instance, which are more deteriorated were perhaps carved out of a different type of wood other than Cryptomeria and are not in fact deteriorated because of a previous deleterious storage arrangement for instance.  Cryptomeria is listed as a type of wood which is resistent to insects.
Any ideas?
Ingrid Neuman
Objects Conservator
RISD Art Mus eum
 


 
-----Original Message-----
From: Helen Alten
Sent: Aug 28, 2008 8:57 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected]
Subject: [pestlist] Cleaning course offered in September

Pest infestations are deterred by good housekeeping. Starting Tuesday, Northern States Conservation Center offers its new Museum Cleaning Basics course, along with six other courses on museum topics.

MS 217:  Museum Cleaning Basics **NEW**
Instructor: Gretchen Anderson
Dates: Sep 2 - 26, 2008 (may run longer)
Price: $425
Location:  www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Museum Cleaning Basics explores everything you need to know about cleaning your collections. Participants learn when to clean  and when not to clean.  They also learn how to make those decisions.  Topics range from basic housekeeping to specific techniques for specific objects. You will learn why cleaning is important and how to prevent damage when cleaning. We will look at specific techniques that minimize damage while getting the work done. And we will discuss when to call in a specialist, such as a conservator.  Students will create a housekeeping manual for their institution.

Course Outline
1) Introduction
2) Agents of Deterioration
3 ) Health and safety for the object and for you
4) Equipment and supplies
5) Cleaning techniques
6) Documentation
7) Spring Cleaning: Housekeeping Manual
8) Conclusion

Logistics
Participants in Museum Cleaning Basics work through sections at their own pace. Instructor Gretchen Anderson is available for scheduled email support. Materials and resources include online literature, slide lectures and dialog between students and online chats led by the instructor. The course is limited to 20 participants.

The Instructor:
Objects conservator Gretchen Anderson learned her craft at the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian's Conservation Analytical Lab, the Canadian Conservation Institute, Getty Conservation Lab, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Minnesota Historical Society. She established the conservation department at the Science Museum of Minnesota in 1989. Ms. Anderson is a member of the American Institute for Conservation and the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections. She lectures and presents workshops on preventive conservation, IPM, and practical methods and materials for storage of collections.


There is still room in these courses for students interested in building their skills in each of these areas.  All are available at www.museumclasses.org.
Please sign up and pay at http://www.collect ioncare.org/tas/tas.html . If you have trouble, please contact Helen Alten at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 651-659-9420.

September Online Classes  

MS108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs ** NEW **  Sep 2 - Sep 26, 2008
              Instructor: Karin Hostetter

MS109: Museum Management ** NEW **  Sep 2 - Sep 26, 2008
              Instructor: Sue Near

MS202: Museum Storage Facilities and Furniture Sep 2 - Sep 26, 2008
              Instructor: Helen Alten

MS205/6a: Disaster Plan Research and Writin g  Sep 2 - Oct 10, 2008
              Instructor: Terri Schindel

MS209: Collections Management Policies for Museums and Related Institutions Sep 2 - Nov 14, 2008
              Instructor: Bill Tompkins

MS217: Museum Cleaning Basics ** NEW **    Sep 2 - Sep 26, 2008
              Instructor: Gretchen Anderson

MS002a: Collection Protection - Are you Prepared? (short course)  Sep 22-26, 2008
              Instructor: Terri Schindel


More details on each course follows:

-------------------------------------
MS 108: Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs  ***NEW***
Instructor: Ka rin Hostetter
Dates: Sept. 2-26, 2008
Cost: $425
Location: www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Volunteers are essential for most non-profit institutions. But even though they don't get paychecks, it takes time and money to have effective volunteers. Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs, new for 2008, is designed to teach the basics of a strong volunteer program.  Topics include recruiting, training, and rewarding volunteers, as well as preparing staff. Instruction continues through firing and liabilities. Participants will end up with custom forms tailored to their institutions, an understanding of liability issues and a nine-step process to troubleshoot an existing volunteer program or create the best one for a particular institution.

Course Outline
Week One
1. Introduction
2. Laying the Foundation: preparing staff, job descriptions
3. Determining Program Structure: who's in charge
Week Two
4. Recruiting Volunteers
5. Selecting Volunteers
Week Three
6. Training Volunteers
7. Evaluating Volunteers
8. Saying "Thank You"
Week Four
9. Keeping Records
10. Communicating Information: including handling change
11. Liability
12. Conclusion

Logistics:
Participants in Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs work at their own pace through sections and interact through online chats. Instructor Karin Hostetter is a vailable at scheduled times during the course for email support. Fundamentals of Museum Volunteer Programs includes online literature and student-teacher/group-teacher dialog. The course is limited to 20 participants.

The Instructor
Karin Hostetter, author of a series of articles for the National Association for Interpretation's Legacy magazine, has worked with volunteers for nearly 15 years.  She taught the National Association for Interpretation's two-day volunteer management course for volunteer coordinators and served on a panel about volunteer programs.  As the first paid volunteer coordinator for the Denver Zoo in Colorado, she designed an interview process, developed a progressive and comprehensive recognition system, introduced interpretation into training, and restructured the volunteer organization. Ms. Hostetter now consults with organizations on structuring and improving volunteer programs. And she volunteers herself.

-------------------------------------
MS 109:  Museum Management
Instructor: Susan Near
Dates: Sep 2 - 26, 2008
Price: $425
Location:  www.museumclasses.org

Description
Is your museum well run? Maybe, but few museums are so well run they don't need help. And a museum manager who needs no improvement is a rare commodity. Museum Management helps current managers improve and gives a good foundation to those who want to enter management. Participants learn requir ements for museum administration and processes used to run a successful museum efficiently and effectively. Sound business practices and public accountability are key. Class discussions cover current concerns, such as how the changing cultural climate may effect museum operations. Discussions solidify concepts and help participants apply them to their own situations. Class discussions also build a peer support network that extends beyond the course.

Course Outline
1.      Introduction
2.      Legal and Planning Documents
3.      Staff Responsibilities, Organization, & Personnel Management
4.      Strategic Planning
5.      Budget Management and Accountability
6.      Collections Management
7.      Facilities Management
8.      Marketing and Community Relations
9.      Development and Membership
10.     Public Programs and Evaluation
11.     Overview  Future Trends

Logistics
Participants in Museum Management work through sections on their own. Instructor Susan Near is available for scheduled email support. Materials and resources include online literature and references, slide lectures, dialog between students and online chats led by the instructor. The course is limited to 20 participants. Museum Management runs four weeks.

Course Book
Museum Administration: An Introduc tion By Hugh H. Genoways (University of Nebraska State Museum) and Lynne M. Ireland
(Nebraska State Historical Society), Series: American Association for State and Local History, AltaMira Press, 2003

The Instructor
Susan Near, director of museum services for the Montana Historical Society for 18 years, recently became the Society's special projects coordinator. A graduate of the Getty's Museum Management Institute and the Museum Studies Program at the University of Delaware, Ms. Near's extensive administrative experience includes successful grant-writing, heritage tourism, educational outreach, public relations, marketing, new museum construction, personnel management, and project and event management. She is an accreditation visiting committee member for the American Association of Museums, conducts peer reviews for the Museums Assessment Program, and reviews and serves on grants panels for the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Coming from a curatorial background, Ms. Near started her museum career as a research specialist at the Valley Forge Historical Society in Pennsylvania and spent her first 7 years at the Montana Historical Society as Registrar and then Curator. She curated over 20 major art exhibitions and co-authored Montana's State Capitol: The People's House, Montana Historical Society Press, 2002.

-------------------------------------
MS202: Museum Storage Facilities and Furniture
Instructor: Helen Alten
Dat es: Sep 2 - 26, 2008
Cost: $425
Location: www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Museum Storage Facilities and Furniture concentrates on building systems and furniture for storing and protecting collections. Topics include environmental controls, insulation, floor coatings and predicting space requirements. Museum Storage also compares commercial and homemade furniture and provides a blueprint for planning the redesign of your facility. Storage philosophy, construction requirements, safety and security and planning. A new unit details how commercial museum-quality cabinetry is constructed. Blueprints are provided for high-quality, homemade cabinets.

Course Outline:
1.      Storage Philosophy
2.      Agents of Deterioration and Preservation Planning
3.      Storage Facilities
4.      Storage Furniture
5.      Conclusion

Logistics:
Participants in Museum Storage Facilities and Furniture work at individual paces through five sections. Instructor Helen Alten is available at scheduled times during the course for email support. Resources include forums and scheduled online chats, PowerPoint lectures, reading materials and lecture notes and links to relevant web sites.

The Instructor:
Helen Alten is an objects conservator and owner of Northern States Conservation Center, St. Paul, Minnesota. She has been an educator, conservator and trainer since 1 986. Ms. Alten received her master's degree in archaeological conservation and materials science at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London in 1986. She began working with small, rural, and tribal museums as conservator for Montana and Alaska.

-------------------------------------
MS205/6: Disaster Plan Research and Writing
Instructor: Terri Schindel
Dates: Sep 2 - Oct 10, 2008
Price: $475
Location: www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Every museum needs to be prepared for fires, floods, chemical spills, tornadoes, hurricanes and other disasters. But surveys show 80 percent lack trained staff, emergency-preparedness plans for their collections, or both. Disaster Plan Research and Writing begins with the creation of disaster-preparedness teams, the importance of ongoing planning, employee safety, board participation and insurance. Participants will learn everything they need to draft their own disaster-preparedness plans. They also will be required to incorporate colleagues in team-building exercises.

A written disaster-preparedness plan is not only a good idea, it's also a requirement for accreditation. In the second half of the course, instructor Terri Schindel reviews and provides input as participants write plans that outline the procedures to follow in various emergencies. The completed plan prepares museums physically and mentally to handle emergencies that can harm vulnerable and irreplaceable collections. You will have a completed institutional disaster-preparedness and response plan at the end of the course.

Course Outline:
1.      Introduction to Disaster Planning
2.      Disaster Team
3.      Risk Assessment and Management
4.      Health and Safety
5.      Insurance
6.      Documentation
7.      Prioritizing Collections
8.      Writing the Disaster Preparedness Plan
9.      Emergency Procedures
10.     Disaster Response
11.     Emergency Procedures  Recovery
12.     Emergency Procedures  Salvage
13.     Emergency Procedures - Salvage Techniques and Guidelines
14.     Emergency supplies and location of regional resources
15.     Appendices:  What to put in them
16.     Next steps: planning drills and further resources
17.     Conclusion

Logistics:
Participants in Disaster Plan Research and Writing work at their own pace. Instructor Terri Schindel is available at scheduled times for email support. Opportunities for interaction include forums and scheduled online chats. Each section includes a written assignment that becomes support material for drafting an actual disaster preparedness plan. Materials include readings, lecture notes, links to relevant web sites and handouts.20The course is limited to 20 participants.

Required Textbook:
Disaster Plan Research and Writing uses the required textbook Steal This Handbook! A Template for Creating a Museum's Emergency Preparedness Plan, which is available for purchase at http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html .

The Instructor:
Terri Schindel graduated from the Courtauld Art Institute, University of London with a concentration in textile conservation. She has assisted small and medium sized museums in writing disaster plans for more than a decade and helped develop national standards for disaster-preparedness materials. Ms. Schindel specializes in collection care and preventive conservation and works regularly with small, rural and tribal museums.

-------------------------------------
MS209: Collections Management Policies
Instructor: William (Bill) Tompkins
Dates: Sept 2 - Nov 14, 2008
Price: $425
Location:  www.museumclasses.org

Description:
Acquiring and holding collections impose specific legal, ethical and professional obligations. Museums must ensure proper management, preservation and use of their collections. A well-crafted collections management policy is key to collections stewardship. Collections Management Policies for Museums and Related Institutions helps participants develop policies that meet professional and legal standards for collections management.
Collections Management Policies for Museums and Related Institutions teaches the practical skills and knowledge needed to write and implement such a policy. The course covers the essential components and issues a policy should address. It also highlights the role of the policy in carrying out a museum's mission and guiding stewardship decisions. Participants are expected to draft collections management policies.

Course Textbook:
John E. Simmons, Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies, American Association of Museums, 2006, $40 non-member, $30 member, 208 pages, ISBN: 1-933253-03-7, available from the AAM bookstore

Course Outline:
1. The Principles of Collections Management
2. Collections Stewardship: The Role of a Collections Management Policy
3. Policy Versus Procedure
4. Issues to Consider When Developing a Collections Management Policy
5. Essential Components of a Collections Management Policy
· Statement of Purpose
· Statement of Authority
· Definition and Scope of Collections
· Acquisition and Accessioning
· Deaccessioning and Disposal
· Preservation
· Collections Information
· Inventory
· Risk Management and Security
· Access
· Loans
· Intellectual Property Rights Management
· Staff Responsibility / Ethics
6. Monitoring and Revision
7. Potential Problems
8. Emerging Issues
9. Drafting a Collections Management Po licy

Logistics:
Participants in Collections Management Policies work through sections at their own pace. Instructor Bill Tompkins is available for scheduled email support. Materials and resources include online literature, textbook readings, slide lectures and dialog between students and online chats led by the instructor. The course is limited to 20 participants.

The Instructor:
William G. (Bill) Tompkins is the national collections coordinator for the Smithsonian Institution. Bill serves as a principal advisor to senior Smithsonian management and staff on collections-management policies, procedures and standards. He develops, implements and interprets Smithsonian collections management standards. This includes reviewing and approving the policies of the Smithsonian's individual museums to make sure collections are maintained according to policy, professional standards and legal obligations. Previously, Bill was assistant director of the Smithsonian's Office of the Registrar. He is also a former collections manager at the National Museum of American History. With nearly thirty years experience in the museum profession, Bill regularly speaks at professional meetings, workshops and university programs.

-------------------------------------

MS 002:  Collection Protection  Are You Prepared?
Instructor: Terri Schindel
Dates: September 22 through 26, 2008
Price: $75
Location: www.museumclasses.org

Disaster planning is overwhelming.  Wh ere do you start? Talk to Terri about how to get going. Use her check list to determine your level of preparedness.  What do you already have in place?  Are you somewhat prepared?  What can you do next? Participants in Collection Protection will read literature and complete a checklist before joining two one-hour chats to discuss disaster preparedness at their institutions. This is a short seminar and takes no more than 10 hours of a student's time. 

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