Connecting to Collections Care

Dear All, 

Today, I discovered a leather saddle in our collection that appears to have a white powdery substance on it (see photos). The bulk of the substance is on the undersides of the flaps and belts not on the outer surface. From doing some research and watching an old Connecting to Collections webinar on Caring for Leather I believe it might be fatty bloom instead of mold but I'm not positive. The saddle does have a slight musty smell. After removing the saddle from storage I began inspecting the areas around where it was stored and discovered, what I believe is, efflorescence on the floors. The white substance on the floors is only on the concrete, mainly under storage cabinets (see photo), and not on any wood touching the floors which is what is leading me toward efflorescence and not mold in this case . We have had some issues in the past with moisture but we haven't had any issues with high humidity. Can the two things be related (the same substance) or just a coincidence that they were discovered at the same time?

At another position I was in years ago we used a vacuum with a HEPA filter to do the initial cleaning of mold and then used, per the conservator's suggestion, a mixture of distilled water and Listerine (it was a very large outbreak and we had a ton of leather to clean). In any case, since we don't have an on staff conservator here I'd thought I'd reach out to all of you. Can anyone shed some light? We are on a shoestring budget so any suggestions on cleaning the saddle in-house is appreciated.  I look forward to all your thoughts. Thank you.    

------------------------------
Diana Welsh
Collections Manager
Indian Museum of North America at Crazy Horse Memorial
Crazy Horse SD
------------------------------

Hi Diana,

I did some research on this and got some great advice from conservator Ellen Carrlee as well.   Fatty bloom or spue generally appears on areas of an object exposed to air and can occur on older leathers like this as a result of past leather care products, cycling environmental changes, or the tanning process itself.  Fatty bloom will disappear quickly in the presence of heat.  Are you able to get a small sample of the substance?  If you can get a little on the edge of a small metal spatula or other small tool from an inconspicuous area, try putting it under a hair dryer or other heat source.  If the substance melts or seems to disappear, it's fatty bloom.  Ellen also suggested that if you are able to get a sample, you should be able to smear it on a piece of mylar.  Mold won't smear like this.  If it's fatty bloom, you can go ahead and just swab it off.  A dry cleaning sponge or cosmetic sponges (vulcanized rubber) would work well for this.  The good news is fatty bloom doesn't really harm the leather.  It can keep coming back, so best long term care is to try to keep the humidity from cycling and wipe off as needed.

The musty smell you mention, as well as the residue on the concrete floor, definitely suggest mold is a possibility.  Leather is hygroscopic and tends to draw in the moisture around it.  If you have a data logger in your collections storage space, you can look back to see what fluctuations have been occuring in the environment the saddle is in.  If you don't have data loggers yet, there are some fairly inexpensive versions available online that can help you dial in the storage environment.  It sounds like you've dealt with this before, so you likely know to try to keep leather in an environment with an rH between 40-60%.  If it's mold, yes, wear an N95 mask and use a HEPA vacuum to remove as much as you can.  You can also physically gently swab away as much as possible.  Most importantly if it's mold, you need to immediately get the saddle into a drier environment to stop growth.  If you can't either make the humidity in the room go down, or you have other objects in that room that require higher humidity, put the saddle in another room where you can control it better. Ellen doesn't recommend creating a microenvironment for the saddle because the lack of ventilation could exacerbate the mold growth and it's very difficult to use enough desiccant for something that size or to change it out frequently enough to be effective long-term.

Here are some resources you might find helpful, https://museumbulletin.wordpress.com/ and https://alaskawhitestuffid.wordpress.com/.

------------------------------
Lissa Kramer
Washington State Historical Society
lissa.kramer@wshs.wa.gov
------------------------------

------Original Message------

Hi Diana,

I did some research on this and got some great advice from conservator Ellen Carrlee as well.   Fatty bloom or spue generally appears on areas of an object exposed to air and can occur on older leathers like this as a result of past leather care products, cycling environmental changes, or the tanning process itself.  Fatty bloom will disappear quickly in the presence of heat.  Are you able to get a small sample of the substance?  If you can get a little on the edge of a small metal spatula or other small tool from an inconspicuous area, try putting it under a hair dryer or other heat source.  If the substance melts or seems to disappear, it's fatty bloom.  Ellen also suggested that if you are able to get a sample, you should be able to smear it on a piece of mylar.  Mold won't smear like this.  If it's fatty bloom, you can go ahead and just swab it off.  A dry cleaning sponge or cosmetic sponges (vulcanized rubber) would work well for this.  The good news is fatty bloom doesn't really harm the leather.  It can keep coming back, so best long term care is to try to keep the humidity from cycling and wipe off as needed.

The musty smell you mention, as well as the residue on the concrete floor, definitely suggest mold is a possibility.  Leather is hygroscopic and tends to draw in the moisture around it.  If you have a data logger in your collections storage space, you can look back to see what fluctuations have been occuring in the environment the saddle is in.  If you don't have data loggers yet, there are some fairly inexpensive versions available online that can help you dial in the storage environment.  It sounds like you've dealt with this before, so you likely know to try to keep leather in an environment with an rH between 40-60%.  If it's mold, yes, wear an N95 mask and use a HEPA vacuum to remove as much as you can.  You can also physically gently swab away as much as possible.  Most importantly if it's mold, you need to immediately get the saddle into a drier environment to stop growth.  If you can't either make the humidity in the room go down, or you have other objects in that room that require higher humidity, put the saddle in another room where you can control it better. Ellen doesn't recommend creating a microenvironment for the saddle because the lack of ventilation could exacerbate the mold growth and it's very difficult to use enough desiccant for something that size or to change it out frequently enough to be effective long-term.

Here are some resources you might find helpful, https://museumbulletin.wordpress.com/ and https://alaskawhitestuffid.wordpress.com/.

------------------------------
Lissa Kramer
Washington State Historical Society
lissa.kramer@wshs.wa.gov
------------------------------

Dear Diana,
Thank you for sharing your images and question about this leather saddle in the collection that appears to have a white powdery substance. Yes, that is mold/ fungus and should be treated by a conservator. I suggest you to contact a local professional to deal with this mold problem. You can search in the AIC's website for your closest professional and trained conservator to deal with objects in your collection at *Find a Conservator.*

https://www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator

Also, I'd like to provide you some information about decontamination of biodeterioration from the National Archives in France (in French). Among living microorganisms with an appetite for leather, paper, glues or parchment within collections, mold is particularly feared by professionals and is probably the leading cause of degradation of most collections. When mold and insects contaminations occur, it is important to act quickly and then take steps to treat it effectively and prevent them from recurring.

https://francearchives.fr/fr/article/26527658?fbclid=IwAR2o_GTChBkgF_Z4d-As3PpCzGjI4FRlgj3iY_P5zurZxK7QlQVf5U4TZVM

Kind regards,
Valeria

------------------------------
Valeria Orlandini
Senior Conservator of Works on Paper and Photographic Materials
Orlandini Art Conservation
Chevy Chase MD
(301) 657-2682
------------------------------

Thanks for everyone's help in this posting. Before any treatment is attempted on this object, it is recommended that  the mold will need to be officially confirmed by testing with the help of a trained conservator. And as a general reminder the C2C Community is monitored by a team of volunteers (officially labelled as C2C Care Monitor) who occasionally reach out to content experts in specialty fields, but that other community members can chime in to offer their opinions as well. 

------------------------------
--------------------------------------
Robin Bauer Kilgo
Connecting to Collections Care Coordinator, FAIC
c2cc@culturalheritage.org
Contract Registrar/Consultant
rbkilgo@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2020 11:03
From: Valeria Orlandini
Subject: Saddle with Possible Fatty Bloom or Mold?

Dear Diana,
Thank you for sharing your images and question about this leather saddle in the collection that appears to have a white powdery substance. Yes, that is mold/ fungus and should be treated by a conservator. I suggest you to contact a local professional to deal with this mold problem. You can search in the AIC's website for your closest professional and trained conservator to deal with objects in your collection at *Find a Conservator.*

https://www.culturalheritage.org/about-conservation/find-a-conservator

Also, I'd like to provide you some information about decontamination of biodeterioration from the National Archives in France (in French). Among living microorganisms with an appetite for leather, paper, glues or parchment within collections, mold is particularly feared by professionals and is probably the leading cause of degradation of most collections. When mold and insects contaminations occur, it is important to act quickly and then take steps to treat it effectively and prevent them from recurring.

https://francearchives.fr/fr/article/26527658?fbclid=IwAR2o_GTChBkgF_Z4d-As3PpCzGjI4FRlgj3iY_P5zurZxK7QlQVf5U4TZVM

Kind regards,
Valeria

------------------------------
Valeria Orlandini
Senior Conservator of Works on Paper and Photographic Materials
Orlandini Art Conservation
Chevy Chase MD
(301) 657-2682
------------------------------