 Hi everyone, we're so happy to have you here. We've been waiting for a long time for this webinar on ivory, so I'm really looking forward to it. I just want to run through my slides really quickly and if you have any questions and you want to answer from a person about caring for collections, you can always go to our discussion forum and you need to register for that, but that's merely to protect the privacy. So feel free to use that. If you're not a member of the C2CC Announce List, you can join it here. Only use for announcements, it's not used for chit chat and you'll get maybe two at the most three messages a month. And you can also keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter and you can always contact me. This is my email address and I'm happy to communicate with any of you. And for those of you who are experiencing floods or any other kind of disasters, the National Heritage Responders, this is their 24-hour, seven day a week number and they will have someone to help you. So keep that in mind. And coming up next month, we're going to have something on the care of medical and medical specimens. So wet specimens, skeletons, human remains, medical models, medical instruments. So if any of those things are problematic to you, maybe you don't want to tune into this one, but it's going to be pretty interesting. Then in April, we have two webinars, one on caring for industrial objects, one on contracts for emergency response. In May, we'll do one on globes and in June, we'll do one on debriefing your emergency plan. And someone asked me why I don't put the things that are coming up in the calendar. I do put them in as soon as there is an ad and a description and I try to get those in about six weeks before. So you may want to look, but they're not ready yet. So thank you. And now I'm going to turn this over to Stephanie Hornbeck. She is the chief of conservation at the Field Museum. And I'm going to turn it over to you. So thank you, Stephanie. Thank you, Susan and Mike. Can everyone hear me okay? Good afternoon. Thank you for joining this webinar about the care and documentation of ivory objects. I'll start with a brief background about my own interest in ivory and elephants, which dates to graduate school when I was involved in a project to surface clean and consolidate an Asian elephant skeleton in a small museum collection. Later on as a professional conservator I had several impactful interdisciplinary discussions with a curator of ivory history in American collections while I worked on African art at the Smithsonian. I later became very interested in an intersection of the collection of elephant ivory artifacts at museums and the strict laws implemented to protect elephants. I hope to help conservators be better informed about the regulatory aspects that impact ivory collections. Ivory has been a valued material for the carving and inlay of artifacts and art objects in many world cultures. Ivory has been discovered in archaeological context and found use in ethnographic, historic or decorative arts and for a time utilitarian contexts. And few natural materials have had such wide usage. This presentation is intended to primarily assist collections, caretakers and stewards at institutions that may not have a conservator on staff. It will not be the focus of today's discussion. For any conservators joining us today, I will try to present information relevant to your work with ivory too. My way of overview this presentation will focus on the collections care of elephant ivory objects. The other mammal ivories will be addressed as all natural ivory share some important similarities regarding collections care. They are generally treated as a class of related materials. I will focus on worked objects rather than raw forms, although I will touch on the latter in the form of scientific specimens at points. Hunting trophies will not be included in this discussion and nor will we talk about trade and commerce today. We'll focus on seven sections related to ivory collections, types and diagnostic features, cultural uses, causes and manifestations of damage. Interventions will involve preventive measures, what not to do and when to contact a conservator. The importance of legal legal acquisition of ivory and its relevance to the critical protection of living animals will be emphasized and a brief overview of regulatory measures will be presented. Documentation, both written and photographic for internal record keeping and for travel will be addressed and references and resources will be shared. Diagnostic features allow the identification and differentiation of mammal ivories and ivory substitutes. Hopefully this section can help you with any unknown or misidentified object materials you may have. These are the known mammal ivories, elephant, hippopotamus, narwhal, walrus, warthog, whale and the two extinct species mammoth and mastodon. The material ivory includes the tusks and teeth of these mammals. Elephant ivory is the most highly valued of all ivories and describes material comprising the tusks of Asian male elephants, African male and female elephants, as well as that from their relative the mammoth. While they share the taxonomic family elephant today, African elephants and Asian elephants are different species. The tusks of elephants, although differing in function, are directly related anatomically and compositionally to the teeth of other mammals. Elephant tusks correspond to incisors and tusks can be up to three and a half meters in length for some African males and weigh up to 90 kilograms each. Like teeth, tusks have a pulp cavity where the root and soft tissue attach it to the jaw of the animal. The pulp cavity extends for approximately two thirds of the tusk. Its presence or absence on a carved ivory object can indicate the part of the tusk that was used in the original length of the tusk. Also like teeth, tusks are comprised of dentine and cementum. However, teeth have a hard outer layer of enamel, which is found only at the tips of tusks. Like living bone and dental tissues, ivory tusks are composed primarily of an inorganic component, calcium hydroxyapatite, and an organic component, collagen, as well as trace minerals. The mammal ivories are similar to each other in chemical composition, although not all have the formation of enamel. Visual examination under low magnification remains one of the most useful methods to identify ivory, particularly if diagnostic features are present. Careful examination can distinguish among most types of mammal ivory to taxonomic family level. When possible, it is best to compare an object against an actual reference material so you can examine all sides of both together. In this image, I'm using an inexpensive microscope attachment, which goes up to 30 times magnification, and it attaches to a smartphone. For diagnostic images, see these resources. The recent article by conservators Julie Laufenberger and Terry Drayman-Wiser called Teaching Ivory 101, Building on a Legacy at the Walters Art Museum, in the current issue of Curator of the Museum Journal. Man in March's Ivory Identification, a photographic reference guide, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's introduction to the Ivory Identification Guide at this website address. I also encourage you to search online museum collections, which now have many high-resolution photographs that can be very helpful. Differences among the mammal ivories are based mainly on the unique formation of the typical component layers of ivory, cementum, dentine, and enamel. Transverse or longitudinal sections provide the most diagnostic information. It can be difficult to discern diagnostic features on worked ivory artifacts, particularly if they are deteriorated or small in section, as for some inlays. The characteristic visual identifier of elephant ivory is the presence of a pattern of intersecting arcs, sometimes called engine turnings, cross hatchings, or Schrager lines, visible in cross-section. They are named for the German anatomist Bernhard Gottlob Schrager, who first described them in 1800. This intersecting arc pattern is present only on mammoth and elephant ivory. Acute angles on mammoth ivory distinguish it from elephant ivory, which has obtuse arc angles. No other mammal ivories have the pattern, nor do natural material substitutes. The pattern can be viewed with the naked eye or under low magnification. However, the absence of the pattern does not absolutely negate a material, as working or cutting the ivory from different angles, especially tangential, may yield sections that do not show the pattern. It is important to understand that no non-destructive techniques definitively distinguish between African and Asian elephant species. Visual examination alone cannot differentiate between them. Hippo ivory has a ridge perimeter with differences in ring shape depending on whether it was from a straight incisor or a curved canine. Narwhal ivory is characterized by its long, thin spiral formation. Walrus ivory has a distinctive secondary dentine, which is an intergranular structure sometimes compared to tapioca. Whale ivory has a thick layer of white cementum encircling a light brown dentine center. And Warthog ivory is characterized by a short, very curved formation. Other natural materials are used as ivory substitutes. Bone is historically the most often substituted material for ivory. It's close in chemical composition, though characterized by its unique aversion system of elongated holes from blood vessels. Antler, which is an outgrowth of bone. Horn, which is a keratin-based material. Shell, which is calcium carbonate and vegetable ivory from taguan nuts, sometimes called ivory nuts, are all natural material substitutes. Synthetic materials include various composite mixtures such as ivory dust and casein, ivory dust and styrene resin, calcium carbonate and adhesive, casein and hardener, and plastics, typically celluloid patented in 1870. Celluloid is a proprietary plastic composed of cellulose nitrate and camphor. And indeed it is sometimes called French ivory. Elephant ivory has been considered a cherished luxury material across cultures from ancient times to the present day. Highly prized for its creamy luster and workability, ivory has been used for sculpture in Africa, Asia and Europe for millennia and later in the Americas as international trade routes expanded. The inherent value of ivory, its attractive visual qualities and its ability to be carved and worked combined with royal patronage for the creations of highly skilled carvers have yielded master artworks in many world cultures. Some of the most admired ancient works derived from the royal commissions for the Assyrian Empire. Maneval Europe saw the rise of demand for ecclesiastical objects and Paris in particular became an important ivory carving center. The carving centers existed and still exist throughout Asia and Southeast Asia. And ivory from the elephants that produce it to the intricately carved artifact is a material closely associated with Africa. Indeed the establishment of international trade with Africa had dire consequences for elephant populations throughout the continent. And for ivory, variously under the Roman Empire with India and the Far East and eventually with Europe and North America historically impacted elephant populations in various regions of the continent. For centuries, the larger tusks of African elephants have been sought the world over. Yet demand in the 20th and 21st centuries have caused the greatest decimation of African elephants continent wide. Trade networks brought the raw material to North America where it has been widely used in the past two centuries to manufacture combs, handles, billiard balls and piano keys along with art objects. Before advances in polymer chemistry gave the world plastic, ivory was used very widely to produce everyday items like toiletry sets, cutlery handles, cane and umbrella heads. In the 19th century, the United States was the world's greatest consumer of ivory. Although today China is the largest consumer of elephant ivory, demand in the United States remains significant. This has led to the newly strengthened regulations we'll discuss in a later section. Ivory is a relatively soft material which enables it to be worked with non-metal tools and its surface can be highly polished. As it ages, it often develops a yellow-golden patina. Ivory can be bleached to whiten it and it can be stained with oils, dyes and colorants to achieve a range of warm brown colors. Let's review some basic vocabulary used to describe ivory and its decorations. Raw ivory describes whole or partial ivory tusk sections that are unaltered by human intervention to modify the material into a secondary object. Worked ivory describes whole or partial tusk sections that have been carved into a secondary object with utilitarian function or aesthetic purpose. The differentiation between the large categories of raw and worked is important for regulations in permitting, so it is important to understand which category your ivory falls into. Carving describes the removal of ivory. It can be done by hand or machine. An examination of tool marks, as on the right, can be diagnostic to determine which method was used. Openwork describes a cutting carving technique that yields a net-like appearance with decorative openings to areas below, sometimes decorated in a contrasting color. Piercing describes repetitive patterns of holes made with tools. An etching or scrimshaw is a surface technique made by incising decorations often in a hatchwork pattern with a sharp pointed tool. The incised marks are sometimes filled with a dark or contrasting material, such as black ink, to make the design more visible against the ivory substrate. The word scrimshaw is usually applied to Native American Northwest coast ivories, Native walrus ivory, or historic ivories made of whale ivory. Applied decorations are those which do not remove ivory material, but rather involve the application of another material to the ivory surface. Applied decorations can include coatings, paints, and gilding, among others. The surface color of ivory can be caused by the trace metal elements in burial, which darken it, as you see on the left, in its raw form, or from culturally applied oils, as you see on the right, which can be decorative or from use. Inlay describes cut, often flat, sections of ivory, which are inset into the primary non-ivory material of the object. For example, wood, as for decoration on furniture or boxes, or metal, in the case of weapons or sculpture. Once mammals are no longer living, the organic components of their ivory deteriorate over time. As ivory desiccates, it loses its surface luster and becomes harder. Natural aging processes cause discoloration, cracking, and loss, and the deterioration of ivories directly related to its composition and formation. Unlike the teeth of living mammals, the dentine layers of tusks are produced annually, somewhat similar to tree rings in cross-section. The aging process can manifest as separation or delamination of the layers of dentine visible in cross-section as concentric cracks, or longitudinally as cone-within-cone separation. Checks and cracks occur in longitudinal and radial planes in locations related to gaps in formation, and radial cracks form the way wood splits along the grain. In combination, directional cracking patterns can cause the ivory to separate in curved rectangles. Too low or fluctuating temperature and relative humidity results or exacerbates cracking. How objects are fabricated affects their condition too. For example, curved projecting elements are susceptible to breakage and loss, and surface applications are susceptible to abrasion and loss. When lifting aged material from a marine context, dramatic structural damage can occur if waterlogged materials are exposed too quickly to air. Fire, heat, and very dry conditions generally result in cracking and breakdown of the ivory structure. Fire blackens the surface, which can initially confuse the identification of ivory. Ancient ivories often exhibit fragile conditions from lifting out of burial conditions. During burial, collagen can be leached out by groundwater, and acids can attack the mineral component, leaving the ivory structure weak and the surface flaking. Salts in the burial environment can enter the porous ivory and crystallize after excavation, causing disruption of the ivory surface. Ivory is susceptible to fading and discoloration from light exposure, and careless handling can cause physical damage and staining. Inappropriate treatment contributes to structural and surface alterations. Preventive measures are indirect actions taken that impact the object without intervening on it directly through treatment. The most effective conservation measures you can take for your ivory object is to provide a stable environment, particularly relative humidity conditions in the range of 40 to 60%. Storage conditions involve metal shelving in cabinets with individual objects in custom made archival housing. The use of archival housing materials will protect the object and facilitate handling without touching the object. They can be custom made archival boxes with ethyl foam wedges with a smooth barrier layer of Tyvek or polyethylene plastic. Even small objects need housing. If direct handling is unavoidable, the nitro gloves should be worn as dirt and oils from our hands can be transferred to the object. Large heavy items such as entire tusks will require significant support housings. Acceptable materials include ethyl foam, which is a stable polyethylene foam, Tyvek, and polyethylene sheet plastic. Sometimes outer casements of plaster are necessary to keep a badly damaged heavy object together. In such cases, it is important not to cast the plaster directly against the object, but to use a protective archival barrier layer. It is important not to rest the object directly on the floor instead set it upon a padded pallet. This will protect the object in the event of a water incident that accumulates on the floor. And similarly, if the object must be placed on a top shelf, protect it with a plastic layer, especially if sealing duct work is present. Let's talk briefly about mounting. As the use of inappropriate armatures can cause permanent damage to objects. Ideal mount armatures should support the object externally and no holes should be drilled into the object for mounting. Metal will scratch ivory, so metal mount contact areas should be covered with archival felt foam or stable polymer sheeting. When mounting objects, it is important not to fill the pulp cavity directly with irreversible materials like plaster. Because plaster is rigid, it can cause further damage to the ivory as the ivory contracts and expands with changes in humidity, which plaster does not do. If internal support is needed, carved ethyl foam or cast silicone rubber are better alternatives. Let's review a few treatments that are sometimes undertaken by the non-professional with a hopeful or mistaken understanding of what the intervention will achieve. Commercial house cleaning products should never be used to clean ivory. Many of these contain harsh chemicals that are too strong abrasive or drying for a fragile soft material like ivory and cracks and delamination can occur. If coatings or paints are present, solvents and chemicals including products can dissolve or abrade them and crystals can disrupt the surface. Immersing the object in water or soap and water to clean it can be structurally destructive, yielding cracking and even breakage. Once ivory cracking and desiccation has occurred, the application of oils, waxes or coatings will not moisturize or rehydrate aged ivory. Instead of penetrating, applied coatings remain on the surface where they can stain, discolor and attract dirt. In the case of culturally applied oils, do not try to remove these as they are important evidence of cultural use to be retained. Repairing breaks with glues or epoxies or other commercially available adhesives can be too strong for the ivory. Such products can contain unstable additives that cause discoloration, hardening or failure of the adhesive. Similarly, the use of tapes to repair breaks is to be avoided because many tapes include unstable adhesives that discolor and harden over time. If your object has a poorly executed repair, attempts to reverse it can cause damage to the object. Filling cracks, losses or the pulp cavity with plaster will cause cracking with ivory movement. Although we would not use ivory repair materials today, if your ivory object has been previously repaired with ivory, you should not try to remove the repair. And similarly, if your object has small ivory parts, it is important not to try to remove these because it will alter the original fabrication intent of the object and diminish its historical value. If you're not a professional conservator, it's always advisable to do nothing rather than to treat an object yourself. Stable materials and improper technique will cause harm to the objects and may not be reversible. If you're uncertain about anything, then it is better to be cautious and ask a conservator for guidance. Let's review a few gentle dry methods you can do yourself. Before doing anything, examine the surface carefully for stability and the presence of any applied surface decoration. If stable, gentle brushing of the surface with a soft brush or sponges to dislodged dirt is possible. You could also gently brush and vacuum the surface at low suction to remove surface dirt. If water has dripped on an object as from a leak and gently dry it with a soft cloth or microfiber cloth. However, wet cleaning methods or direct immersion in water are not recommended by the non-professional. Here are two basic care resources. The Canadian Conservation Institute CCI's Care of Ivory Bone Horn and Antler. CCI notes 6-1. And the Museum Conservation Institute or MCI at the Smithsonian Institutions, the Care and Handling of Ivory Objects. Let's review scenarios when a conservator should be called. For all treatments, and these involve the repair of breaks to consolidate active cracking or flaking to reverse prior restoration to clean the surface to remove mold. For ivory identification, for any sampling for destructive analyses, and you can find a conservator in your region on the American Institute for Conservation's website here. Conservators may treat, stabilize, repair and clean ivory works of art and we will use stable and reversible materials to document our treatment and document our treatment. Composite materials on a single object as we see here on the left a painted ivory miniature with watercolor and a glass covering over the ivory and on the right ivory and metal with painted toning on the ivory sections. Composite materials on a single object can prove especially challenging. Many early repairs and some in more recent times have been made using carved ivory fills or replacement parts, as you see on the right on the left hand portion of the object. For example, ivory veneers from old piano keys have been used to replace missing parts of ivory in lays in antique furniture. In 2016, federal regulations pertaining to African elephant ivory restricted in export foreign commerce and interstate sales, requiring that the ivory in these transactions meet the standards of the endangered species actor ESAs antique exemption. This stipulates that the item is 100 years old or older and that no repairs or modifications have been carried out with an ESA listed species honor after December 28 1973. Consequently, it is no longer acceptable for ivory repairs to use ivory replacement parts. In the future, the owner wants the object to qualify as an antique under the ESA, so only non ivory repair materials should be used in conservation treatments. Conservators first in the study of ivory can undertake the identification of mammal ivory species or ivory substitutes. Ivory identification information can enhance catalog or exhibition information about an object or as a way to improve a scholarly understanding of history and trade routes. Accurate identification has become more important with the recent new restrictions implemented by the US Fish and Wildlife Service or US FWS. In some circumstances of reliable determination by visual examination can be challenging to achieve. For example, if the suspected ivory part is very small, thin or inaccessible, the surface is very deteriorated surface decoration obscures distinctive features or the object combines more than one type of ivory or ivory like material. With the passage of time, these changes can make visual identification more difficult. Indeed, ancient ivory bone and wood as from archaeological context can appear quite similar. So it is useful to know what aged ivory looks like to destructive testing as for dating or sourcing materials sometimes needed examples of destructive testing include all methods that require a sample to be removed. These include radiocarbon testing, DNA testing and stable isotope analysis. Considering whether to allow destructive analysis it is important to first determine whether non-destructive methods will answer the research question. In general, it is advisable to avoid sampling ivory works of art for analysis due to the risks it poses for the physical integrity of the object. The research benefits of sampling versus disfigurement of the object need to be carefully weighed. If samples will be removed, I encourage you to have a conservator advise on which testing method to use and to undertake any actual sampling. A conservator can advise on discrete locations and remove the smallest sample needed for the testing method. Guidelines for the new 2016 implementation of the rule 4D to the ESA note specifically that forensic testing is not necessarily required to prove species or age. However, in unusual cases where these cannot be sufficiently documented in other ways, museums could be faced with a prospective destructive analysis. It should be noted that ivory that's been buried, burned or submerged underwater or otherwise altered might not provide dependable data when analyzed. Although it's not possible to visually differentiate ivory derived from African or Asian elephant species, conservators can evaluate and vet other methods that claim to do so. Some recommended ethical approaches for conservators treating ivory. What are the current responsibilities and obligations of the conservator treating ivory artifacts? As noted, the most obvious is that repairs should never be made from ivory regardless of its age. A less clear cut issue is whether the conservator is obligated to obtain documentation to support the legality of an ivory artifact before carrying out treatment. This is an especially complicated issue for the conservator in private practice who's more likely to be asked to treat ivory owned by private collectors or by dealers. Are conservators under any legal or ethical obligation to report illegal activity? And what if the owner claims legality but has no paperwork to accompany the ivory? The AIC guidelines for practice state that the conservation professional should be cognizant of laws and regulations that may have a bearing on professional activity. Among these laws and regulations are those concerning endangered species. Further relating to this issue recommended practice in the commentaries to the guidelines for practice of AIC states, as recommended that conservation professionals report suspected violations of applicable laws to the proper authorities. In the case of ivory and other regulated animal products, the proper authorities would be the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The trade of elephant ivory has been highly regulated by a number of acts and laws, and these apply to the importation and travel of artifacts across international and national borders. Stewardship of worked ivory art objects and artifacts involves respect for the new regulations aimed at elephant conservation. The Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, is an agreement first instituted in 1975 among 173 nations to eliminate illegal trade in animals and plants, their parts, and associated products. Now 183 nations are signatories. This regulates international travel of animal parts, including worked elephant ivory objects, including those going on loan for exhibition. The CITES ivory control system focuses on the ivory trade. These are U.S. federal laws applying to ivory. The LACI Act prohibits trade of wildlife taken in violation of any state or foreign wildlife law or regulation. It affects interstate commerce. The Marine Mammal Protection Act applies to narwhal, walrus, and whale ivory. Endangered Species Act, or the ESA, is designed to prevent the extinction of native and foreign species of wild fauna and flora. This act applies to both African and Asian elephant species and prohibits elephant parts and products from being imported into the United States except under certain conditions. The African Elephant Conservation Act prohibits the import of raw or worked ivory into the U.S. with certain exceptions. Some important milestone legal dates of ownership for elephant ivory are 1900, 1972 to 76, 1989 to 1990, and 2014 to 2016. The first date of 1900 describes ivories considered antique, specifically older than 100 years. Such documented ivories are exempted from some of the wildlife conservation regulations. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973, dates before 1975 for the Asian elephant or before 1976 for the African elephant, qualify as pre-convention ivories. And 1989 describes the International Ban on Ivory as well as the African Elephant Conservation Act. The timeframe of 2014 to 2016 describes the period of phase changes to implement a near complete ban on commercial trade in African elephant ivory in the United States. Today, the collection of ivory art and artifacts is inextricably linked to the plight of the elephant and its status as a seriously threatened species. A worldwide ban on the trade of elephant ivory in place since 1989 followed Kenya's dramatic burning of confiscated stockpiles of ivory. Despite the ban, demand for elephant ivory has risen sharply in the last decade. And according to the Wildlife Conservation Society in 2012, an estimated 35,000 African elephants were killed for their ivory tusks. Consequently, beginning in 2014, international and U.S. national laws were strengthened to combat the rise in trafficking of ivory, including the trade of ivory artworks and artifacts. Destruction events of confiscated ivory were held by governments around the world to raise awareness of the true cost of ivory to elephants. And in 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule change to rule 4D of the Endangered Species Act to increase protections of African elephants. The rule change became law in July 2016. The period of phased changes to the African elephant regulations from 2014 to 2016 was a time of uncertainty for museum professionals, including conservators who were concerned that previous exemptions for legally acquired pre-convention worked ivories might be eliminated. The goal of regulatory changes was to increase protections for African elephants in response to a surge in poaching, yet a corollary impact affects the transportation of worked ivory art and artifacts. The complexity of the laws, discretionary enforcement, and the new updates have presented challenges to museum professionals who in efforts to be compliant are trying to interpret and imply them to museum objects. The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works formed a working group to prepare a position paper for the organization. And the preservation of cultural property with respect to U.S. government regulation of African elephant ivory was published in November 2015. Its objectives were to present the concerns of conservators, to advocate for recognition of appropriately trained conservators to carry out qualified appraisals as noted in U.S. FWS documentation and guidelines, to recommend a pre-screening process by cultural heritage experts of confiscated worked ivory before destruction events, to support elephant conservation efforts and respect laws that halt illegal trafficking of new raw and worked ivory, and to advocate for protecting permanent pre-convention cites in ESA documented worked ivories of documented provenance from unnecessary destruction, destructive testing, and possible confiscation. I attach a citation at the bottom of the screen for an article I wrote with conservator Terry Drayman-Wiser in the current issue of Curator of the Museum Journal that discusses this period of uncertainty and the process of writing AIC's position paper. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been responsive to the concerns of stewards and owners of ivory objects. They have compiled a useful and informative list of questions and answers called what can I do with my ivory to provide guidance. This resource has been updated to address both African elephant ivory and Asian elephant ivory and to explain definitions, the different regulations, and dates of enforcement that apply to each species under different scenarios, and information about which forms to submit. Before the Rule 4D change, a period of discussion allowed museum professionals, owners, and vendors of art objects, musical instruments, and ivory inlaid antique firearms to weigh in. Several relevant exemptions beneficial to museums and owners of musical instruments resulted. The document includes more than 30 questions and detailed answers are presented. These include, is it legal for me to keep my elephant ivory? Can I donate or give away elephant ivory? How can I tell the difference between elephant ivory and other types of ivory? How can I travel internationally with my musical instrument that contains ivory? How can I import or export ivory items as part of a traveling exhibition? Before we continue discussion of regulation, it will be useful to turn to documentation which includes both written and photographic records because these provide supporting documentation to satisfy regulatory stipulations. There are a variety of purposes and types of documentation. They may be internal to an institution and include data acquisition and its related documents, provenance, loan history and loan documents, condition and treatment reports, ivory identification, destructive analysis, and photographs of record and condition. It is important to document the data of acquisition and how an item was acquired. Actual receipts as well as pre-acquisition correspondence about objects are needed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends that any existing documentation also accompany any object to be donated or gifted, so be sure to request this information if you are receiving donations of ivory objects. Provenance records noting history of ownership are important to acquire with any acquisition and to retain in the object's file. And this is true of donations as well. Keeping copies of publications that use the object, such as journal articles and exhibition catalogs, can also assist with tracking ownership and date of the object if it's not precisely known through analytical testing or precise provenance records. Documentation to record condition and treatment interventions are important object records, and these may take the form of condition checklist examination or treatment reports. It is always important to think of future care and what information will help collection stewards who may need to understand or reverse previous interventions. Ivory identification. If the ivory material of the object has been identified, keep a written record describing the examiner name, date of examination, and method of examination. For example, visual examination under magnification and possible presence of diagnostic features like the presence of Schrager lines for mammoth or elephant ivory or secondary dentine or walrus ivory. Distructive analysis. It's important to document any destructive analysis undertaken, including a description of the initial request, the rationale for approval or denial. Description of sampling method including number of samples, sizes and locations. And to take pre sample photographs photographs for collection inventory and monetary condition changes should be part of the objects collection file. If possible, multiple angles of the objects should be captured including all sides and both ends detail images of diagnostic and condition features should be captured to optimal photo quality results will be achieved by shooting a neutral monochromatic background, ideally gray under even lighting conditions, and including a label with the object number a scale bar and date of the photograph in the image will be helpful references. If legally acquired, the USA African Elephant Conservation Act and CITES do not prohibit the possession donation or non commercial interstate movement of ivory. International travel is more complicated and requires declarations supporting documentation and permits. When an object travels internationally as for exhibition documentation and permits will be needed and it's important to keep a record the loan history of an object noting the dates and location of travel and listing travel documentation that was needed at the time. All wildlife, including parts and products imported into or exported from the United States for any purpose must be declared to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The declaration must be to the species level to determine the appropriate legal frame framework for your elephant ivory you first need to determine whether your items are made of African or Asian elephant ivory. If you're not able to demonstrate which species of elephant is involved, you may only be able to engage in activities that are lawful for both species. The import of African elephant ivory as part of a traveling exhibition is allowed provided the work ivory was legally acquired and derives from an elephant taken from the wild prior to February 1976. The import of Asian elephant ivory as part of a traveling exhibition is allowed provided it qualifies as an ESA antique or if the item does not meet the antique criteria must meet preact requirements. Proof of determination of species can be in the form of a qualified appraisal or other documentation that demonstrates the identification of the species through detailed provenance. Public testing is not mandatory, though without species identification the service may be unable to issue any permits specimens can be refused clearance and detained at the port. We will now briefly discuss the application and permitting process for international travel. And this can be a confusing and daunting prospect, and I will just barely outline it here. The colleagues have advised me that the full process can take six months for importation the steps of the application process need to be completed by the country where the object is owned application preparation starts with an object list document with this information. Note any materials from animal species, the scientific name of the animal species, the date of museum acquisition, the country of last re export, and any quality photos of object of the object showing the relevant materials. Supporting documentation for cites will involve affidavits that will need to be gathered and customs brokers can provide templates. Affidavit one should be a classification of material by species and rationale for classification affidavit two should state a circuit date of the item to testify to its antiquity. If an antiques exemption is being used and to advise on its pre actor pre amendment status and affidavit three states species and origin with supporting arguments and rationale. This can be historical precedent knowledge of trade routes or other verifiable means to the best of the issuers awareness. This is a gray area, and it should not be a shot in the dark, but rather based on verifiable fact. The item is an antique made of ESA listed species it must enter the US through one of the designated antique ports and US Fish and Wildlife will not sign off on a city's permit until the cargo is in the warehouse, which permits inspections. The steps of the application process for exportation will be completed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which will issue the cities traveling permit, the cities traveling exhibition certificate. As for importation, the same information will be needed. An object list documenting the animal species, the scientific name, the date of acquisition country of last re export and quality photos. And the same affidavits will be needed as for importation. At our museum affidavits on museum letterhead are signed by the registrar, relevant collection manager and curator authorizing the outgoing shipment. The item is an antique made of an ESA listed species, it must depart the US through one of the designated antique parts antique ports. And US, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will will sign off on the city's certificate the day of travel. It's important to note that some countries do not recognize the travel sites certificate in the country of destination may have their own requirements and permits to file for the importation. Another document to be aware of, although it's not necessary to apply for the traveling exhibition certificate is the pre convention certificate. It's issued for species that were taken from the wild before the species was listed in her cites, and it authorizes export or re export provided certain criteria are met. For the African elephant, the pre convention date is February 26 1976. And for the Asian elephant, the date is July 1 1975. The last kind of documentation for elephant ivory I'll review today are the three exemptions to the endangered species act or the ESA. These are the pre act specimen exemption, the ESA antiques exemption and the de minimis exemption. The pre act exemption under the ESA is exempt from standard prohibitions on importer export to qualify as pre act a specimen including worked ivory must have been held in that captivity or in a controlled environment prior to December 28 1973, prior to the data first listing under the ESA June 14 1976 for the Asian elephant in May 12 1978 for the African elephant. Such holdings or use was not in the course of a commercial activity. The ESA antiques exemption applies to both African and Asian elephants ivory antiques that meet these criteria are exempt from ESA prohibitions and the provisions in the African elephant final for D rule to qualify for the ESA antiques exemption must meet all criteria. Must be 100 years or older. Composed in whole or part of an ESA listed species, not repaired or modified with any such species. After December 27 1973 and importation through an endangered species antique port. Note, cites and other import export requirements must still be met to demonstrate that ivory item meets the criteria to qualify for the ESA antiques exemption. U.S. Fish and Wildlife has provided guidance in appendix one of directors order 210 note that forensics testing is not necessarily required provenance and age may be term be determined through a detailed history of the item. A qualified appraisal or other method can be used. And here's the notation again for appendix one of directors order 210. And lastly the de minimis exemption. It applies only to African elephant ivory. It's a new provision of the 2016 change to rule for D of the ESA. It provides an exemption from prohibitions on selling or offering for sale in interstate and foreign commerce. Certain manufactured or handcrafted items that contain a small or de minimis amount of African elephant ivory. To qualify. The ivory was removed from the wild prior to February 26 1976. The ivory is not raw is not made primarily of ivory ivory components do not account for more than 50% of the item by volume. The total weight of ivory components is less than 200 grams. The 200 grams. Figure is equivalent to 88 piano keys. The item was manufactured or handcrafted before July 6 2016. When the new rule change went into effect. And us fish and wildlife provides guidance on ways to demonstrate that the item qualifies in the what can I do with my ivory document we talked about before. They also note they will not require ivory components to be removed from an item to be weighed. They also note that the items of items likely to qualify for the de minimis exemption include many musical instruments most knives and guns with ivory grips. Household and decorative items including teapots measuring tools with ivory parts or trim baskets with ivory trim. Walking sticks and canes and many furniture pieces with ivory inlay. Today's overview of ivory care documentation provided practical information and useful resources for further study. For both the professional conservator and the collection steward with ivory collections preventive and minimally interventive approaches to care or best. The conservators ability to differentiate elephant ivory from bone and other mammal ivories remains useful in determining which wildlife regulations, if any apply. Although it's not possible to differentiate African from Asian elephant ivory visually conservators can guide museums in evaluating and vetting other methods that can. The new regulations warrant an increased awareness of the laws regulated to legal documentation and ivory repair materials. The array of African elephant protection regulations can be confusing for the museum professional. As we've seen the US Fish and Wildlife Service website includes useful information specifically targeted to address a range of issues related to ownership of ivory. It is noteworthy that the service has been responsive to concerns of museums. In recognition of the special issues faced by museums that own ivory objects exemptions to the new regulations were made to allow non commercial import and export of ivory under certain conditions, including for traveling exhibition. For the species identification and dating of ivory. The service clarifies that forensic testing is not necessarily required. Descriptions of acceptable written documentation are provided. So maintaining detailed written documentation related to acquisition provenance and any supplementary documentation establishing age and species remains important. I want to let you know about the January 2018 special issue of curator the museum journal, which is dedicated to elephant ivory and museum collections. Nearly 20 articles from different scholarly perspectives, including from curators conservators and museum directors are presented. And the publishers are hoping to reach a wide audience and are allowing one year of open access to the publication. Lastly, I recommend that you draw on experience conservators registrars and customs brokers to assist you with any international travel preparations. I want to offer my sincere thanks to Susan, Barger and Michael Moreau for the Connecting Collections Care team for making this webinar possible. I thank these colleagues at the Field Museum. I'm grateful to these conservator colleagues. I offer special thanks to Alessandra Broca Museum Services at Masterpiece International. Thank you for your time today. Here's my contact information if you have any questions and I'd be happy to take questions now if there are any. Okay, I'm going to read the questions. I'm also going to put up the evaluation link the evaluations are really important to us so please make sure that you fill that out. And I will start up here at the beginning. One of the first questions was, what is the microscope attachment that you're using? And you can just... What is the microscope attachment? Yeah, that attaches to your smartphone. You can send that to me and I will put it, I'll add it to the handout. Sure, I can certainly do that. It's actually a small attachment that I was able to buy at a toy store and for a time Toys R Us was selling them. When I posted it to Facebook, it was like my most popular posting ever. It was rushed out to buy it online because it only cost like $12.99. So it's really a useful application, sorry, a useful attachment. And I know several archaeologists who've now also bought them to take with them in the field. Okay, Maria Bastia Spence says, I'm a conservator but my main question is what are the best conditions for exhibiting and storing artifacts made from ivory? The best conditions for the environmental, the best environmental conditions are relative humidity of 45 to 55%. That can be expanded to 40 to 60%, though the narrow range is preferable. Light levels should be at 15 foot candles or 150 lux or less because ivory is susceptible to fading and discoloration from light exposure. And the temperature range can be more dramatic. It can range from 60 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit, ideally. Okay. Campton Brown asked, I'm a furniture conservator, should I create covers for knobs on objects? Protective covers. Is that the question? Yeah. I think protective covers is a wise idea. Certainly, I'm imagining this is for storage conditions. And I would recommend something like a soft washed tieback that can be gently tied with twill tape around the knobs. Okay. Meg Gauss-Mune said, what's the bristle fiber type that you recommend for dusting brushes? I recommend natural fiber, natural brush fibers. I think sable is always a good example. And certainly, I would not recommend synthetic brushes. They're too hard in most cases. Okay. And Adrian Tafoya asked, I have a questionable painted ivory piece that is flat like paper. Is that even possible? It is possible. It depends on its size. It's certainly possible in an artifact or an art object that's small in dimension. Ivory, because of its curved formation will cause curving of any sort of layer that's removed from it. So if it's a small, thin piece, it is possible, certainly. Okay. When deaccessioning items with ivory, what is recommended for disposal? That's Oana Capota asked that. That's a, that is a complex question and I haven't addressed commerce today. If you can donate the objects somewhere within the United States, that's what I would recommend. I think commerce has become so complicated that I wouldn't necessarily advise trying to sell the objects, especially if depending on their provenance. If you have legal documentation to proving that it's been legally acquired and meets the pre convention guidelines and everything we've been talking about, you certainly should travel with the objects to whatever institution or individual you end up deaccessioning to. Okay. Maria Bastita Spence again asked, is ivory considered a sensitive material that would need to be rotated during, need rotation during an exhibition? Not especially. Although it is important to have low light levels and ideally filter out UV light sources through the use of UV barrier films or coatings on vitrines or plexiglass, which has a built in UV barrier. But the ivory can remain on display for years at a time. Certainly, if it's in has stable environmental conditions and low light levels. Okay. And Holly Chase following up on that said, do we need special lighting for ivory? Can it be damaged by improper lighting? It can. It can be, it can fade and it can also yellow with improper lighting, mainly the combination of visible light for fading and ultraviolet light for discoloring. So you do want to try to have low light levels and filter out the UV. Okay. Tegan Cahoe said, are there, are there regulations that affect whether museums can accept donations of ivory artifacts? Do donations count as trade for the purposes of the Lacey Act and the ESA? The U.S. official wildlife document, what can I do with my ivory specifically does talk about donations and donations are allowed. And certainly you should request all the documentation that's possible from the current owner of the object when you're accepting a donation. The challenge is if it's undocumented. Certainly in that case, a donation can still be accepted, but it will be impossible to travel internationally. And it may not be able to travel to a different state, though it may be able to travel within a state. So certainly the donation can be accepted, but how it travels is what will mainly be impacted. Okay. Guru Fateh Khalsa asked, what if we do not have a date or acquisition or provenance, a date of acquisition or provenance. There were a couple of people who asked about that. Again, it'll be really challenging for international travel, mainly. I'll exhibit you from keeping it in storage or even exhibiting it at your own institution. It's just when it's in transit that it will need elaborate documentation. If it is requested for a loan and it's considered important to loan. So writing the affidavit documentation can perhaps try to do a stylistic comparison to other objects of similar type and try to just address the age and history that way. But again, that's somewhat subjective. Okay. Dr. Olivas asks, what needs to be done to transport ivory between US state lines? If it's traveling for non-commercial purposes, nothing needs to be done. It's really for commerce within the United States that there's some significant variability from state to state. And the US Fish and Wildlife website does have links to help you understand the regulations within your state because intra, within a state and inter-state travel between states are regulated differently. Okay. Is there information on conserving mammoth and walrus ivory? That's in the CCI, isn't it? Yeah, the two resources I listed, MCI and CCI note, would apply also to mammoth and walrus. All of the ivory, natural ivories are very similar in composition. They're just basic guidelines. When you're faced with something like mammoth, it can have much more significant cracking and loss just from the age of the raw material and the loss of the collagen component. So that's something to be aware of, although I have seen quite well preserved mammoth examples. Okay. Evelyn Fahler asked about regulations to artifacts that only contain a portion of ivory like cutlery handles. And I think you answered that. Yes, the regulation applies to even small portions. Okay. Are there types of ivory? This is Michelle Lopez. Are there types of ivories, walrus hippos and arwa, or are other types also illegal or is it just elephant ivories? They are, again, depends on the date of acquisition of the raw material. So the raw material, the dates that I was giving for the ESA, for example, of 1975 for the Asian elephant, 1976 for the African elephant. It pertains to when the raw material was obtained. So a raw material could have been obtained from, say, 1960, but it was cut into, you know, a cutlery handle in 1980. The 1960 date still qualifies it as pre-convention. Okay. Beth Doyle asks, what documentation is needed if you were lending to another campus organization such as a library lending to a campus museum? Just lending within the same institution. That's what it sounds like. Probably just, I would just say that no special documentation is needed by material. It would be, I would treat it similar to any loan. Susan, I'd like to back up to the previous question for a moment, please. Can you read it to me again? It was about other natural ivories that are regulated, I think. Are other types of ivories, walrus hippos, narwhal, etc., also illegal or is it just elephant ivories? Okay. I wanted to address that the Marine Mammal Protection Act does apply to narwhal and whale. That act was implemented in 1972. And again, the date of the raw materials collection from the wild is the date that's important. And you can read up about the, just the specific dates and regulations and how it impacts your object by just looking up the act itself. Official Model Life does talk about each of the acts in some depth as well. I don't believe walrus is regulated at this time nor hippo. Certainly, African and Asian elephant are the most highly regulated of all the natural mammal ivories. Okay. Casey Donner asked, is this recorded? Yes, it is. And I will post it in the next few days. And so as soon as you no longer see the advertisement for this webinar on our homepage, then look in the archives and it'll be there with the recording, the PowerPoint slides and the handout. And I will amend the handout to include these few items like the microscope thing. Okay. What Alicia Guillama asks, I'm also interested in deaccession pre ESA items with disposal to local auction and process for process for deaccession of unknown or found in collection ivory like worked like piano keys or future or furniture decoration. Again, it will be challenging. The regulations for commerce are different for Asian and African elephant ivory. And so again, if you look at look up. What can I do with my ivory. It does address questions of commerce for each species. The documentation issue is challenging and important. So that's something you'll have to read about. I was in preparation for this webinar I was trying to find out if undocumented donations can be accepted. And what happens if a museum does want to dispose of those, but I could not find detailed information about that complex question. Often an undocumented animal part from an endangered species like elephant ivory is very difficult to deaccession and deaccession by through trade or selling certainly. Okay. I just want to note that we have six minutes left. Or nine minutes left. And if we don't get to all the answers to the questions, I'll get written answers. And I'll also post those. So, um, there is a question. I'm interested. This is from Mary custom your check in Milwaukee. I'm interested in how to carry care for raw elephant ivory tusk collected from a deceased captive elephant owned by the zoo displayed on a daily basis for zoo visitors to touch. So, it is that I guess, are you asking is that illegal, or what are the thoughts about it. I mean, I would add to that. What about the people in natural history like on museums like you have, who have preserved elephants. Right. And the question is how to care for and display. Yeah, correct. Yeah, Mary's typing something so we'll get in a minute. Okay. We do at our museum, except animals that have died at our local zoo. And it is important to, when you take in a donation like that, when you're repository for zoo to receive documentation that specifically states from the zoo. There's no date of captivity. If it was born in the animal was born in captivity over it was taken from the wild when that happened, as well as the date that it died its age when it died, any kind of documentation like that should travel with the animal part to the museum. So, this materials, if they're in there just in their raw form again is very similar to how we would deal with worked ivories, the same environmental situation applies. So, a question of mounting if it's a really, you know, if it's a full tusk that's large and heavy to mount it adequately without adhering or drilling holes into the tusk to to mount it. That's where it becomes more complicated, but the actual comparison to smaller worked ivory artifacts does hold otherwise. So, Mary added here. It's a full tusk it's not mounted it's displayed for people to touch so she's asking how to care for it as it's not protected from damage caused by air light or oils from human skin. Does she want to still allow visitors to touch it. I think so. Oh, she's writing again. Let's see. Well, while she's writing we'll do this Casey Donner said is an uncarved tusk set on a pedestal with a thermometer inlaid into it considered worked ivory. Can you say that again please Susan is an uncarved tusk set on a pedestal with a thermometer laid into it considered worked ivory. If the thermometer if the whole has been drilled into the tusk to attach the thermometer then that would technically be considered worked ivory. If the thermometers adhered to the tusk or otherwise just resting on it, then it I would still consider it a tusk in its raw form. Okay, Mary has gotten back and said it's a full tusk not mounted displayed for people to touch. And yes it's part of our remains to be seen displays. Okay, so well in that situation. Probably it needs periodic gentle cleaning from all of the sort of handling it's receiving and dry methods probably won't be sufficient. So I would recommend just something a dilute solution of distilled or deionized water and just a few drops of Orvis, which is a conservation detergent or ivory liquid detergent just a few drops of that in your water and then to just gently blot or wipe the surface like with a jersey cloth. Certainly don't immerse, you know, don't immerse the object fully, but I think what some gentle wet cleaning will probably be necessary for something that's receiving that much direct handling. Nancy Donner has a series of questions about. Did you give resources on where to donate illegal ivory. And that that is ivory with no documentation and therefore possibly made after 1976. And along the same lines. Guru Fatte calls I asked if we have ivory on display that was probably donated after 1976. Is that okay. Certainly it's okay to have it have it on display. It becomes as I said earlier, it's sort of where it's really complex is when it's in transit. You can you can display it certainly, and you can receive donations that are undocumented. It does restrict what you're able to do with the object, however, and if you have donated items that are illegal ivory what do you, which is what Casey is asking. Can you donate them somewhere. I, I'm not sure is the short answer for that. I would check the surest place to go would be your regional US Fish and Wildlife Office. I don't know how responsive they are to just inquiries from the public, but that's where I would start for a question like that. Okay, otherwise, you may just have to keep it in storage, you know where you serve as a repository for it, but you're not actually using it at your museum through display or research. So, we just have a few more questions and we have two minutes. So, we'll move right along here. Jean Crucchet asked for a miniature painting on ivory what's the optimal humidity range. Does the thickness or type of paint change anything about its care. The optimal range for a miniature painting on ivory would be probably as close to 45 to 55% RH as you can achieve our relative humidity RH is the critical environmental variable you want to try to control with ivory. So try to have a narrow range for an object like that. If you're able to create a micro environment for it in storage or on display with the use of something like R10 or conditioned silica gel. That would be a good idea. The paint with the medium of the paint can affect the stability of the object as well. If the miniature I showed in my presentation was watercolor, but certainly oils have been used on as the paint medium on ivory as well. It's important to just examine the surface carefully. If you use low magnification like an optimizer, or even a magnifying glass, and just try to determine if the paint is still adhering well. That will help you answer your question about its fragility. Okay, so then there are two questions that are left. One is from Maria Sofiati Dale, and she says, do you recommend including information in permanent collection galleries accompanying ivory objects that suggest that discusses the ivory trade, poaching, etc. Are museums required to provide this kind of information? Museums are not required to provide this kind of information, but I will say that certainly in the last few years, let's say the post-2014 regulations to the present, I have noticed a number of museums are starting to include contextual information. If they weren't before, they are now. We are too at our museum. We have a permanent hall, the China Hall opened in 2015, and it has text about the ivory trade and talking about how the Asian elephant was no longer, it didn't go extinct, but it was very, very endangered and threatened as early as the 10th century in China, and so import depended on the African elephant ivory trade. So it is becoming much more common to include that kind of information, though not mandatory. Okay, and the final question, there's several questions about identification that I think you've answered, and the final question says, what's the best, no wait, is there much of a danger of elephant ivory being passed off as mammoth ivory? There certainly is, and with the new regulations, there has been uptick in things identified as bone and mammoth that are probably elephant, so certainly there is a danger of that, and it's certainly more than a danger, it's actually happening. It can be difficult to actually differentiate them depending on the cut of the ivory piece that forms the object. So if you don't have a transverse cross section cut, you're not going to have your Schrager lines, something that's, you know, a distinctive characteristic. So it can be very difficult to differentiate, and so misattributions are certainly happening both inadvertently, but also deliberately now. Okay, well, I think that answers all the questions. Thank you so much. And thank you everybody who's here. And I hope that many of you will come to our webinar next month, which is on medical specimens. And I think that's it. So thank you. Bye bye everyone. Thank you.