Cleaning of metals contaminated with historic pesticide residues that are hazardous to health

Abstract

Mr Straw’s House inWorksop, Nottinghamshire, is a time capsule of social\ud history, housing a wide ranging collection of personal ephemera and everyday\ud items dating from the 1900s to the1980s. Now cared for by the National\ud Trust, the house’s historical importance lies in its exhibition of this wide\ud range of everyday items. It displays the family’s middle-class possessions,\ud and gives a sense of the modernisation and development of household\ud brands. However some of these historical everyday items may pose\ud health risks to staff and visitors, and particular concern was raised about\ud the chemical containers present at the property. While pesticides added\ud to objects have been discussed in some detail in previous studies, very\ud little information is available about what factors to consider when treating\ud objects where the hazardous chemicals are an integral part of the object’s\ud use and history. Therefore a project involving the National Trust and the\ud University of Lincoln’s Conservation Department was undertaken to identify\ud and conserve the contents and containers of the collection from Mr\ud Straw’s House. This article discusses the analyses of the contents and\ud how these were then treated