How to preserve 130 year old leather baby mittens

These mittens belonged to my maternal grandmother...they've been stored rolled up in this little cake box from her best friends wedding for decades now.  The handwriting is hers.

I would like to find a better way to preserve them to pass on to family one day...possibly framed under glass?

It feels like a deer skin, maybe sheep or goat? Very soft still.  The seams are machine stitched and the ribbon stitched by hand...and there's that bit of sweet embroidery on the back of each.

I might press the ribbon and stuff them lightly with something?

Any ideas?

I know I could just pass on the cakebox as it's done the job so far...but it just seems so fragile and delicate.

Could all three items be stitched onto a piece of linen, mounted onto acid free card and framed under glass like a museum display piece. That would allow it to be seen and admired.

Thanks Megan!
That's just the sort of thing I'm wondering about.  Do you suppose there should be an air gap between the mittens and the glass?

I have a lot of well washed old linen from my collection when I was doing a lot of natural dyes...maybe even a piece from grandma that might work?
She did a bit of handwork but mostly was the grandma who raised bees, hatched out eggs for the community in her parlor, hitched up and drove a horse and buggy to teach school after her college degree...and when she moved to town brought her sheep along to trim her grass....my mom, of course, was embarrased by her but her life has always fasinated me.

What a lovely keepsake and bit of family history. We have one moccasin from my husband as a baby from when his uncle was in Canada. The dog apparently ate the other so it is barely worn, but so tiny!
If you want to have it on display, one option would be a box or shadow frame - these have depth under the glass for 3D items.


This one from an Amazon shop, but there are others on line, or probably not too difficult to make if you have the skill.
I'm not sure about the best way to preserve them though. On display the light will degrade them faster, although glass does block some harmful light. Have you a museum to consult locally?

It should not be too hard to build a wooden shadow box out of plywood and some lumber scraps. I would put the glass lid on hinges so you can open it, and maybe see what there is for glass options that might cut down the ultraviolent light.

I would use a felt on the inside of the box, probably a hunter green as it would contrast the mittens. To hang the mittens, I would attach wooden clothes pins to the back and just clip the middens in the display arrangement that looks visually best.

Next I would save out some packets of those tiny packages that keep moisture out of electronics and put that at the bottom of the shadow box just to wick up moisture.

I am not sure I would preserve the mittens directly, but if one chooses too, I would use natures leather preserver: lanoline. It's worked for sheep for 9000 years!

The suggestions all look great.  The big thing is to keep insects out, which the tin has done very well.  Acid free will stop the paper's chemicals eating into the items.  My go to is to speak to a museum conservator to get some help.  Light is another killer of fabric.  Such beautiful items.  Best wishes.

Thanks everyone   
Great suggestions!

I really like the shadow box idea with a linen cloth covered board for mounting. 

I happen to have a lot of thrift store frames and some are matching so that I might be able to hinge them and make a deeper frame/box somehow.

No museums near by but one of the local libraries might have suggestions.

There is what looks like one small hole that could have been bug damage so definitely want to avoid any more.

Under sealed uv protective glass on acid free paper.    Do not place in same case as anything dyed.
You want to keep air and light away from these.   Hence why she placed in the tin... dark and mostly airtight.
I hope you can do this so they remain preserved for generations to come.
Best of luck
Carla

Judith Browning wrote:These mittens belonged to my maternal grandmother...they've been stored rolled up in this little cake box from her best friends wedding for decades now.  The handwriting is hers.

I would like to find a better way to preserve them to pass on to family one day...possibly framed under glass?

It feels like a deer skin, maybe sheep or goat? Very soft still.  The seams are machine stitched and the ribbon stitched by hand...and there's that bit of sweet embroidery on the back of each.

I might press the ribbon and stuff them lightly with something?

Any ideas?

I know I could just pass on the cakebox as it's done the job so far...but it just seems so fragile and delicate.

The 'cake box' is the small paper box in the photo, not a tin. It was traditionally sent home with a small piece of cake from the wedding...although it's possible grandma just brought the box home with no cake

I'm not sure how this was stored previously but I've had it in a small drawer in an old desk...no light but also no moisture control.

I'll check out the archival supply link next time on wifi...thank you paul

Carla..thanks!
UV protective glass is something I'm not familiar with...would be useful for many things that I'm framing.

From what I learned about mounting pressed leaves and flowers from our hikes, linen and cotton cloth were acid free. I wonder, though, if water used to wash them could change the acidity?

I am not an archivist, but my parents were antiques dealers. I would stay away from plywood as the glues used could out gas and damage the leather. I have a piece of my grandmother's silk embroidery mounted on archival board in a metal frame air gapped below the glass. Best I could afford at the time.
My advice- you might find an archivist at a nearby college or university, not only in a library but in an anthropology, paleontology, archeology, or museum studies department. Any course of study that likes "old stuff" . Often the management or conservation is similar across materials.

Checking in with some antique dealers may also prove useful. Some will definitely try to buy them, but others will be glad to share what they know about keeping them safe.

Hi! This is from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCfCy_K1gpM

some good ideas and tips on how to mount things under glass.

Use archival mats, background mat used, papers, and frames; and hang it where sunlight and fluorescent light can not hit it; UV lights, even from florescent lights, is one of the largest destroyers of keep sakes mounted in shadow boxes.  

Steve Zoma wrote:It should not be too hard to build a wooden shadow box out of plywood and some lumber scraps. I would put the glass lid on hinges so you can open it, and maybe see what there is for glass options that might cut down the ultraviolent light.

I would use a felt on the inside of the box, probably a hunter green as it would contrast the mittens. To hang the mittens, I would attach wooden clothes pins to the back and just clip the middens in the display arrangement that looks visually best.

Next I would save out some packets of those tiny packages that keep moisture out of electronics and put that at the bottom of the shadow box just to wick up moisture.

I am not sure I would preserve the mittens directly, but if one chooses too, I would use natures leather preserver: lanoline. It's worked for sheep for 9000 years!

I would *strongly* recommend against having something made of wood in direct contact with either the leather or the fabric. Over time the acidity of the wood will first stain, and eventually, degrade them. For the same reason, I'd avoid using plywood at all. Between the fact that plywood tends to be mostly pine and spruce, and the glues used to hold the laminate together, I'd be very concerned about acid or other badness eventually migrating onto the leather and degrading it. Felt, especially dyed felt, could also be problematic, unless you can be very sure it's pH- neutral, and is free from processing/dye residues.  Using a linen thread to attach them to an undyed linen fabric over an acid-free backing board, inside a frame deep enough that there's no contact with the glass would be much better. I can't remember if uv protective glass is recommended for leather and fabrics that aren't coloured (it is for anything that's been dyed, against fading, but I can't remember if uv causes physical degradation of leather),  but if you can afford to have it, it certainly wouldn't do any harm. I agree  putting a bit of oil on the mittens pre- mounting; I'd suggest either a liquid lanolin, or neat's foot oil (a liquid will let you just dab it on, which is much more gentle than having to rub in a cream). Either way, be sure to get *straight* oil, not a compound! The compounds all have additives which are actually quite bad for the leather, long term.  Finally, I think that dessicators would be counterproductive. Leather is, after all, skin, and if it dries out too much, it starts to crack and flake. As long as your ambient humidity isn't regularly very high, it should be fine.

I'm an entomologist with connections to ornithologists, wildlife biologists, and museum curators, so I am happy to offer some technical advice I've gleaned from others.

There are four principal enemies to leather conservation -- humidity, light, mould, and insects. The comments that others make about acidity is somewhat less important for leather, which survives well in acid conditions (see: millennia-old bog bodies with skin intact). Old leather is usually tanned with acid -- tannic acid, where the name "tanned" comes from.

- Humidity. Leather likes a stable humidity first and foremost. Too much wetting and drying will ruin it or promote mold. If you do a shadow box, ensure it's a tightly sealed unit. Have moisture absorbers in there. Don't have leather touching glass, as glass can condense under certain conditions (e.g. strong sunlight), and the moisture will cause issues.
- Light. Sunlight will damage leather, even through glass. Keep it away from natural light if possible.
- Mould. Usually caused by high humidity.
- Insects. Some insects, especially carpet beetles, will chow down on leather. If the box is airtight, it's less likely they will get in. These beetles are also a danger to many other stored objects, and are usually dealt with adequately if given a yearly freeze (1 week in, 1 week out, 1 week in), unless you have a significant infestation. Camphor in the form of mothballs is the traditional remedy, but it has a strong odour and isn't particularly good for you!

There is a great guide here
 from some Australian museum curators which I recommend checking out! They include a temperature/humidity threshold guideline and have a lot of other useful advice.

Best of luck, they are a nice heirloom!