[Health & Medicine Museums Newsletter - 10 K]
HMM Newsletter - Number 10, March 1996 ISSN 1036-3041


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READING MATTER

Publications of interest to health and medicine collectors and museum custodians

Hazardous materials

A lengthy paper published several years ago in the Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material Bulletin may be useful to custodians of medical collections. The author, Alison Wain, was a conservator involved with the move of the Science and Technology collections of the Museum of Victoria to their new home at Scienceworks.

Ms Wain discusses hazardous materials, where to look for hazards, and the basic safety procedures to be carried out when they are found. Specific reference is made to asbestos, matches, lead, arsenic, mercury, munitions, fire extinguishers, batteries, radioactive materials and general chemicals.

Members of HMM will no doubt be able to add to this list other hazardous materials that are often found in medical collections, such as drugs, sharps, and material possibly contaminated with human tissue or pathogens. The HMM Newsletter would be interested to hear from readers about how they have dealt with such items.

Wain, Alison. Hazardous materials in museum collections. AICCM Bulletin, Vol.18 No.1&2, 1992, pp. 3 - 28.

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Back to HMM Home Page] Published by the Australian Science Archives Project on ASAPWeb, 12 June 1996
Prepared by: Lisa Cianci and Lisa O'Sullivan
Updated by: Elissa Tenkate
Date modified: 18 September 1997

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