[MassHistPres] cleaning lichen from monuments and lead paint

[Jim Wald]

You should of course consider both your own local preservation 
philosophy and national and scientific best practices. The tendency 
today in many cases is to conserve as found, i.e. use minimal 
intervention, only as necessary.

I assume you would want to consult professionals, for a start. 
Professionals often do, moreover, offer training for local citizens, 
e.g. especially in the summer, and pertaining to gravestones (our most 
common stone monuments). (This list occasionally contains notices of 
such programs.)

Regarding cleaning techniques, NCPTT has just issued final new best 
practices on cleaning marble government-issued headstones.

http://tiny.cc/oa3x0

Obviously, that is a somewhat different case/material, but the general 
principle applies:  cleaning with a gentle aqueous biocide, water, 
gentle brushes. This was the preparatory technique and cleaner (D/2 
Biological Solution) used by the conservators we hired for a large 
cemetery preservation project here.

Jim Wald
Amherst

On 8/6/11 10:25 AM, Liebowitz, Jonathan wrote:
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Liebowitz, Jonathan
> *Sent:* Friday, August 05, 2011 5:51 PM
> *To:* masshistpres at umb.edu
> *Subject:* cleaning lichen from monuments and lead paint
>
>   The Littleton Historical Commission would like advice on cleaning 
> what I think is lichen from a historic monument in town.  The monument 
> is granite from about 100 years ago and has inscriptions that are 
> becoming illegible because of growths of lichen covering them.  What 
> do you recommend for cleaning the monuments?  Is this something that 
> amateurs can do, or are there professionals whom we should call upon?  
> If the latter, can anybody recommend someone or suggest listings of 
> reliable professionals?
>   On the lead paint question--We had our home repainted last year.  
> Our contractor was aware of the lead paint ruling (just coming into 
> force then), took a brief course on the requirements, and then 
> followed them.  I'm sure that any reputable painting contractor would 
> now be prepared to follow the requirements.  You probably shouldn't 
> have to tell them what to do.
> Thanks
> Jonathan Liebowitz
> Littleton Historical Commission
>
> Jonathan J. Liebowitz
> History Department
> University of Massachusetts Lowell
> Lowell, MA  01854
> USA
> 978-934-2530
>
>
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