2025 Poster Session

With the exception of risks related to physical forces and moisture-induced deterioration and crizzling, glass is generally considered to be among the least sensitive materials in the museum environment. Collections care resources used by conservators and cultural heritage caretakers categorize glass as insensitive to light, and current lighting recommendations for the display of beadwork are made with regard not to the beads themselves, but to the typically organic backing materials to which they are affixed.

In 2024, the Alaska State Museum (ASM) initiated a collaborative effort between beaders, culture bearers, and ASM staff with the goals of expanding access to the beadwork held at ASM; developing culturally appropriate conservation protocols for the preservation of beadwork originating with the Alaska Native communities represented in the ASM collection; and ultimately producing a collaboratively curated ASM exhibition of beadwork. In the preliminary stages of launching this collaboration, J. Kae Good Bear, a beader and museum professional, mentioned to ASM conservator Ellen Carrlee that she had observed beadwork with apparent color loss in museum collections. That some beads are vulnerable to color fading has since been verified anecdotally by other beaders and through examination of beadwork in the ASM collection, but this phenomenon has not yet been fully characterized or brought to the attention of the conservation profession. Loss of color in beadwork is concerning for several reasons: foremost, it disturbs the highly intentional and significant color choices of the beader; it also challenges conservators’ understanding that with the exception of the discoloring solarization of some glasses that can occur after prolonged exposure to high-intensity UV radiation, glass beads do not experience color change.

This poster describes preliminary research related to glass bead color loss. Many glass beads—especially modern beads, but some historic varieties as well—are colored with coatings or paints to reduce manufacturing costs and to achieve hues that cannot be easily produced with glass chemistry alone. This investigation identified three modes of color damage to which beadwork in museum collections may be susceptible: (1) fugitive dyes and colorants in coatings and paint media can fade with exposure to light, leaving behind a white, grey, or colorless binder; (2) some coatings and paints can be easily abraded or scratched, exposing colorless or colored glass; and (3) some bead colorants are soluble in common solvents including acetone, ethanol, and water. The latter form of color loss is particularly concerning, as water and ethanol (mixed or in isolation) are the two solvents that are currently recommended and most commonly used by conservators for cleaning glass beads. Clearly, further investigation is warranted.

This poster aims to amplify and corroborate the insights of beaders, among whom the notion of bead color loss is already relatively common knowledge; to highlight the criticality of collaboration between conservators and allied professionals, artists, and culture bearers; and to invite members of this field to be in touch and share in the larger ongoing ASM efforts to develop improved guidelines for the stewardship of beadwork.