Handling and gloves

Physical force is the agent of deterioration with the most immediate and most avoidable consequences, and almost all of it happens while someone is holding an object. The equipment question, which glove, gets far more attention than the procedural question, which matters more.

The glove question, answered by material

The blanket rule that everything must be handled with cotton gloves has been substantially abandoned, for good reasons: cotton reduces grip and tactile feedback, snags on damaged surfaces, and accumulates soiling that it then transfers.

The current position is that the choice depends on the material.

Metals: gloves, always. Skin salts and oils cause corrosion, and a fingerprint on a polished metal surface will etch permanently. Nitrile is the usual choice.

Photographs, negatives and film: gloves. Emulsions are damaged by skin oils, and the damage develops over time rather than being immediately visible. Nitrile, or clean lint-free cotton where grip allows.

Books and paper: clean dry bare hands, usually. Gloves make page handling clumsy, and clumsy handling tears paper. Wash and dry hands, and handle by the edges.

Textiles: depends. Nitrile for anything that could carry a hazardous residue, otherwise clean hands or gloves depending on the surface. Support matters far more than the glove.

Anything with a suspected hazardous residue: gloves without exception. Arsenic and mercury compounds in historic taxidermy, pesticide residues on ethnographic and textile material, lead compounds in paint. Nitrile, plus consideration of a mask when disturbing dust.

Nitrile has become the general-purpose choice because it gives good grip, does not shed fibres, is available in sizes that fit properly, and is disposable, so cross-contamination between objects is easy to avoid. Powder-free is essential.

What matters more than gloves

Plan the move before touching anything. Know where the object is going, know it is clear, and know the route. The most common cause of damage is a person holding something with nowhere to put it.

One object at a time. Always. The second object is the one that gets dropped.

Support the whole object. Never lift by a handle, a rim, a projecting element or a frame member. Historic handles were made for a different level of use and have often been repaired. Two hands underneath, or a board or tray.

Use a tray or a padded board for anything small, flat or fragile. This converts a carry into a slide-and-lift and removes the grip question entirely.

Open doors first. Doors, drawers, cases, boxes. Everything that will need to be opened is opened before the object is picked up.

Remove what could catch. Rings, watches, lanyards, ID cards on cords, and anything else that swings forward when you lean over.

Ask for help before you need it. Two people and a plan is faster than one person and an accident.

Preparing the receiving space

The place the object is going to needs to be ready before it leaves where it is: cleared, clean, padded if necessary, with enough room for the object and for hands to be withdrawn afterwards.

A padded surface, a set of supports and a means of stopping something rolling are the whole equipment list for most handling. None of it is expensive and all of it is more useful than any glove.

Records

Note when an object is moved and where it went. Dissociation, meaning the object surviving while the information about it does not, is one of the ten agents of deterioration and one of the easiest to cause. An object in the wrong place with no record of the move is, for practical purposes, lost until someone stumbles on it.

For anything leaving the building, transport and crates covers the additional requirements.