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environment (mostly the burning of fossil fuels to produce oxides of nitrogen and sulphur) or from something in the museum, such as the wood or paint imperceptibly deteriorating and emitting gases.
To reduce the amount of pollution, conservators test materials, chemically, to see if they are emitting pollutants. There are measures to reduce the amount of pollution emitted such as painting or encasing the material with impermeable sheeting. To get around these problems the latest generation of display cases are made of metal and glass. At the time of writing these cases can be seen at the Museum of Art exhibiting gold and jade artefacts in the first floor exhibition gallery. The cases can only be opened with a special lock, the air within the case is cleaned and the humidity controlled to a set level, with machinery that is inside the case, below the artefacts.
Insects are a source of constant needed vigilance for us; discretely placed around the museums are traps similar to those bought at supermarkets and they monitor fauna. An insect outbreak at a museum is a matter of serious concern because the food source is often likely to be an artefact. Also because insects inside museums are not subject to natural selection, i.e. survival of the fittest, having regard to the amount of food available, they are likely to thrive at the artefact's expense.
Conservators also have a key role in teaching curators the basics of conservation.
Active conservation
We call controlling the above problems preventative conservation, but we also have to do active preservation work on particular artefacts. This is hard to describe succinctly as conservators get such a variety of artefacts to work upon, suffering from a wide range of problems and which can only be cured by applying one of many different methods. This is one reason that the author finds his profession so enjoyable.
Conservators have a very influential role in the history of an artefact being worked upon and the profession has developed a range of professional ethics. Some of these are:
2 But the author has probably broken most of these rules though, at one time or another.