Focus on Leadership
The story of nine remarkable curators, conservators and preparators and their work in the Anthropology Conservation Lab. Learn more »

MSC Seminar Series:
Tortoiseshell and Imitation Tortoiseshell

Traditional tortoiseshell decoration is derived from the outer plates or scutes of the giant sea turtle, which are composed of keratin. Melanin provides the shell's distinctive dark mottled markings. "Tortoiseshell scute can be viewed as a giant fingernail with freckles," remarked Don Williams, Senior Furniture Conservator of the Smithsonian Center for Materials, Research and Education, who spoke at the Sept 18, 2003 seminar.

Williams has attempted to replicate tortoiseshell's natural thermoplasticity with "tordonshell,” a cross-linked collagen imitation of granulated hide glue. Its working properties are similar to tortoiseshell because they share a similar material base, and because tordonshell can be made in large sheets, it can be used in a greater range of applications.

For a copy of the paper, write williamsd@scmre.si.edu

150 Years of Collections Preservation
A review of archival records discloses shifting priorities and uncovers a few unsung heroes of this remarkable collection.  
Learn more »

ACL staff produced the newsletter from 1994–1999, reaching an international audience of more than 800 readers.

Today the newsletter is edited and produced by Marian Kaminitz of the National Museum of the American Indian.

No. 19 — April 1999
No. 18 — Oct 1998
No. 17 — April 1998
No. 16 — Oct 1997
No. 15 — April 1997
No. 13 — March 1996

Anthropology Conservation Laboratory
Dept of Anthropology
Smithsonian Institution
Museum Support Center
4210 Silver Hill Road
Suitland, MD 20746

Tel 301.238.1306
Fax 301.238.3109

Greta Hansen
   Conservation Manager

Department of Anthropology
Anthropology Conservation Laboratory

The ACL provides professional care for collections; reviews prospective acquisitions and loans; prepares collections for exhibit and loan; maintains objects on exhibit in the National Museum of Natural History; reviews sampling requests; advises on object care; and implements preventive conservation projects.

• What's New in the Conservation Lab
• Anthropology Sampling Committee
• Collections Management
• Contact Us

What's New in the Conservation Lab

Earlier Work in the Conservation Lab

	Totem Poles Moved— 3 Northwest Coast totem poles are moved to new locations in the Museum, requiring teamwork and precise planning. Learn more »
	Iraqi Colleagues Visit the Conservation Lab — 10 museum professionals from the Iraq National Museum of Antiquities participated in a variety of training practicums in the ACL in March. Learn more »
	Conservation and Study of Two Yup’ik Ceremonial Masks — Historic 19th century masks collected by Edward Nelson are conserved, restored and recontructed. Learn more »
	Colorimetric Analysis of Seminole Textiles —The ACL uses an instrumental technique to determine when the light level in an exhibition starts fabrics fading. Learn more »
	19th Century Makah Basket — The ACL staff clean, humidify and preserve a large collapsable basket collected on the northern coast of Vancouver in 1874 by James G. Swan. Learn more »
	Silk from the Sea — ACL staff and volunteers lend their expertise to the conservation of an unusual hand glove knit from the fiber of a Mediterranean mollusk. Learn more »

	Eskimo Drawings Conserved for Pathbreaking Exhibition — Read how Nora Lockshin and other Smithsonian conservators prepared Guy Kararook's drawings for exhibition at the Anchorage Museum. Learn more »
	The Conservator's Eye: Learning to Expect the Unexpected — ACL Staff used a technique called infrared spectroscopy on a suspicious, moldy-looking deposit discovered on a wooden figurine from Mali.  Learn more »
	Oversize Anthropology Collections — Totem poles, heavy statues, canoes and hundreds of other large and heavy artifacts have been moved to a special area in the Museum Support Center. Storing the big ones takes teamwork and plenty of planning. Here's how they did it.  Learn more »
	Egyptian Squeezes Conserved — ACL staff recently conserved 104 bas-relief squeezes from Egyptian monuments that were donated to the Smithsonian in 1874. Because they are not typically considered museum "objects," paper materials are often the most overlooked and least researched. Learn more »
	The Challenges of Ethnographic Conservation — Before an elaborate Plains Indian headdress attributed to Tall Bull (Cheyenne) could be loaned for an exhibit, it was humidified, relaxed, repositioned and placed on a special bracket. Learn more »
	Homo Neanderthalensis Specimen Rehoused — Due to its high research value, ACL staff recently designed a new storage system for a remarkable 60,000-year-old specimen of Homo neanderthalensis excavated in the Shanidar Cave in northern Iraq. Learn more »
	American Indian Hall Objects Conserved — For 47 years, the public visited the American Indian Hall to enjoy and learn from artifacts created by the peoples of South and Central America, the American Southwest, and California. Learn more »
	Guidelines for the Care of Works on Paper with Cellulose Acetate Lamination —A well-intentioned attempt to address the condition of fragile historic documents is not the cure-all that librarians and archivists had envisioned. Learn more »