Dear Sarah
I passed this to a colleague in Conservation Research who advises the following:
If the smell is Thymol there should be no health hazard associated with it. However, as we haven't encountered any similar situation, if it is not Thymol, we could not speculate further. My colleague wasn't sure from what you said whether the papers had previously been put in plastic sleeves or you had just put them in sleeves now, and wondered whether the smell could be due to degredation of the plastic sleeves rather than something done to the papers.
We probably cannot help further with the current enquiry, however should you have any further conservation enquiries of a scientific nature, you could address them to Mr Kostas Ntanos, Conservation Science Manager, in the Collection Care Department.
I hope this helps.
Regards
Nicola Harold
PA/Administrator to
Mario Aleppo, Head of Collection Care
Adrian Brown, Head of Digital Preservation
The National Archives
Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8392 5330 ext 2784
[Please note I do not work Wednesdays]
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
P please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Sarah Drewery
Sent: 28 August 2007 14:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Advice on Thymol
Hello,
I am currently cataloguing a collection which was conserved in the late
nineties by a conservation studio that no longer exists. I therefore
cannot find any records to discover exactly what work was done. The papers
give off a strong chemical smell despite being encased in plastic sleeves.
They have even undergone further conservation work, including washing, but
the smell still lingers. It has been suggested that the smell is Thymol,
although I don’t know that it is for sure.
I am worried about the potential health threats this chemical may have on
myself and the readers. Has anybody else encountered a similar situation,
and if so how was it resolved? Any advice would be gratefully received.
Sarah Drewery
[log in to unmask]
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
______________________________________________________________________
|