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Organisationseinheit der BAM
Im Rahmen eines von der Kulturstiftung des Bundes und der Kulturstiftung der Länder geförderten
Projektes zum Erhalt naturkundlicher Nasssammlungen wurden 1) der Zustand der Sammlungen bewertet
(Profiling; Analyse der Vergällungsmittel), 2) über Workshops Expertenwissen in das Projekt gebracht,
3) neue archivbeständige Materialien und Managementmaßnahmen eingeführt (Borosilikat-Gläser und -
Röhrchen, Augenwatte, Tefloneinlagen, Japanpapier, archivbeständige Kleber und Papier, Etikettenaufbewahrung;
digitales Dichtemessgerät, Alcomon-Indikator, Kontrollintervalle), 4) Erhaltungsmaßnahmen
zur langfristigen Konservierung in großem Umfange durchgeführt (Messen der Alkoholkonzentration,
Umsetzen von Präparaten in geeignetere Gefäße, Wiederverschluss von Schaugläsern) und 5) Erfahrungen
und Diskussionsergebnisse zusammengestellt, nicht ohne auf Wissenslücken und wünschenswerte
Forschungsaspekte hinzuweisen. Das Projekt profitierte besonders von der Expertise aus den Materialwissenschaften
und der Papierrestaurierung. Das Museum für Naturkunde Berlin kooperierte eng mit
dem Berliner Medizinhistorischen Museum der Charité, der Zoologischen Staatssammlung München und
dem Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg in Frankfurt. Letzteres Museum führte ein eigenes, themenverwandtes
KUR-Projekt Restauration der Sammlungen 'Vergleichende Anatomie, Embryologie und Histologie'
des Naturmuseums Senckenberg durch.
Microscope slide collections represent extremely valuable depositories of research material in a natural history, forensic, veterinary, and medical context. Unfortunately, most mounting media of these slides deteriorate over time, with the reason for this not yet understood at all. In this study, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, and different types of light microscopy were used to investigate the ageing behaviour of naturally aged slides from museum collections and the experimentally aged media of Canada balsam and Permount™, representing a natural and a synthetic resin, respectively, with both being based on mixtures of various terpenes. Whereas Canada balsam clearly revealed chemical ageing processes, visible as increasing colouration, Permount™ showed physical deterioration recognisable by the increasing number of cracks, which even often impacted a mounted specimen. Noticeable changes to the chemical and physical properties of these mounting media take decades in the case of Canada balsam but just a few years in the case of Permount™. Our results question whether or not Canada balsam should really be regarded as a mounting medium that lasts for centuries, if its increasing degree of polymerisation can lead to a mount which is no longer restorable.
Throughout the history of preparation of biological samples for microscopy the choice of the mounting medium was sometimes dictated merely by availability of the used media. Thus, a plethora of resins and other organic polymers as well as complex mixtures are found to serve as mounting agents in microscope slide collections of museums of natural history, impeding the work for both curators and conservators. Dramatically, in some cases the used mounting media can already be observed to have undergone crystallization and other decomposition processes within few years of mounting demanding immediate action in restoring as well as an imminent precaution in conservation. Therefore, an unambiguous chemical identification of the used agent as well as its current aging stage is of great interest for the biologist community. The technical demands on the analytical approach to obtain this information can be straightforwardly identified. Any used technique has to be non-destructive, yield in molecular information allowing for a chemical identification of the used mounting agents and allow for a spatially well-defined interrogation in a thin sample slice, typically through a transparent cover slip. In this contribution we present a thorough study of the applicability of Raman spectroscopy for the described task. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the successful feasibility of the chosen method for a) a clear distinction between different media, b) the elucidation of the chemical composition of a multicomponent medium and c) an unambiguous identification of real unknown samples by a distinct assignment to a previously recorded spectral library. This library database was built up by recording pure mounting agents and will be provided to the general public. In combination with a Raman spectrometer, it can be an invaluable tool for future curation and conservation endeavors devoted to microscope slide collections at natural history museums.