Talk:Conservation and restoration of taxidermy

Courtnye, I think you did a very thorough job with your outline! For me I think that I would move the hazardous materials to before notable examples as that seems like a more natural flow. I feel that the conservation and restoration treatments should go after causes of deterioration, unless the hazardous material directly relates to either topic. I was also wondering if you have come across any research that mentions any sacred/religious aspects to taxidermy that would prevent certain type of work being done on them? There may not be any with actual taxidermy specimens but more with objects from animals. Another thought I had is that you could include a history section or notable taxidermists (Carl Akeley, Leon Pray, etc.) to expand on the topic. I also included some additional links for sources.

Overall, I think you did a good job with your outline and that it will follow the Wikipedia guidelines. You included your sources in external links right now but you should also include them in the resources section as you start working on the content. I think with your topic you should not have a problem with keeping opinions out as the information will be pretty straightforward. http://www.conservators-converse.org/2014/05/recoloring-faded-taxidermy-research-into-the-properties-and-applicability-of-dye-materials-for-conservation-treatment/ http://wildlifepreservations.com/port_restoration.html https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-technology-old-dioramas/ http://conservation.myspecies.info/node/32 LaurenAnibas (talk) 21:25, 31 March 2017 (UTC)

Lauren, thank you for your suggestions! I actually have about 24 resources in my queue that will be referenced while I'm writing the article. Adding information about any religious/sacred taxidermy would be interesting. I haven't seen anything pertaining to that, but I'll see if I can find a resource. As for the hazardous materials in collections, I wanted to put it before treatment because it's very important that conservators know what's in their taxidermy before they start treating it. Arsenic is found in most old specimens and it may affect treatment methods that are used. It seemed like it's own section to me, but do you think there's another place to put it? I also like your suggestion to add more about history and notable taxidermists, but those seemed slightly outside of this topic and there is already a "History of Taxidermy" article. I might add a "See Also" section to include other taxidermy info like that. Thank you! CourtnyeKoi (talk) 12:13, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

Courtnye, I agree with Lauren. I may add to what Lauren has said in terms of how to determine any type of deterioration due to time, environment, etc. (primarily) as damage due to mishandling or other "trainable" type of damage is much more apparent to what needs to be done.

Sources look great, I'd add more natural history collections (e.g the Field, I think there's a Natural History museum in LA), and proper handling even though it sounds somewhat obvious.

Davidsclapp (talk) 02:07, 1 April 2017 (UTC)

David, thank you! I'm planning on adding what type of damage is caused in each section - e.g. low humidity may cause cracks in the skin. Is that what you mean by determining types of deterioration? And you're totally right, I need to add more about proper handling techniques in the preventative maintenance section. Thank you! CourtnyeKoi (talk) 12:13, 1 April 2017 (UTC)