Connecting to Collections Care

Hello everyone, 

Our historic house museum has a pair of peacock-feather fans on display which over the years have begun to physically deteriorate. We're currently considering the possibility of replacing them with artificial-feather reproductions, but so far are unable to find a source for real-looking fake feathers. If anyone knows of vendors or other contacts for this, your help would be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks very much,

Alyssa

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Alyssa Morein
Collections Manager
Nichols House Museum
Boston MA
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Hi Alyssa,

I reached out to Fran Richie from the Harpers Ferry Center about your question, and this was her response: 

Are the feathers themselves deteriorating, or are the components that attach everything together to make the feathers into a fan deteriorating? If the components, it would be good to take overall and detailed images and get advice from a conservator. They can let you know if it's something you could fix yourself/replace damaged feathers.

Physical deterioration of feathers themselves makes me think of two things – light damage (which alters the feathers chemically and leads to structural damage), and insect damage. I'd first want to make sure there aren't dermestid beetles or clothing moths munching on the feathers and leading to the deterioration. Are the peacock feathers white? It was a fad for a while to breed white peacocks and display those feathers, but I could also imagine a scenario where someone bleached feathers and perhaps that is causing the deterioration.

It does seem like a good idea to remove the fan from display and place it in an archival tray in storage. Depending on what the damage is, you may want to seek conservation treatment (but again, best to have images).

I don't know of any artificial feather suppliers -- since peacocks are game animals that are legal to possess, there aren't any issues in buying real replacements. It should be fairly easy to find real replacements that will look better than faux. Keep up on the integrated pest management inspections and exclusion, and make sure windows have UV-blocking film so that your replacements will last a long time!  

Hope this helps!

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Brittany Murray
C2C Care Monitor
WUDPAC Graduate Fellow
bfmurray@udel.edu
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