14.08.11
The negatives, made from cellulose nitrate, can rupture into flames at temperatures as low as 120 degrees Fahrenheit and can give off toxic gases as they waste away.
Thus, officials at the county-owned museum method to ask for permission to dispose of the negatives – but not before making digital copies of the images that can be safely stored and made present to the public.
The item is on the consent agenda for Monday's assembly of the New Hanover County Commissioners. County Boss Bruce Shell has urged the item be approved.
The outcome came up when the Cape Fear Museum began updating its catastrophe preparedness plan.
"We probably have some artifacts of a hairy nature," said curator Barbara Rowe.
Except for a few old rifles, most of the items on grandeur in the museum at 814 Market St. – from the diorama of the Struggle of Fort Fisher to Chicken Hicks' shag-dancing shoes – look comparatively harmless. But you might be surprised.
Recently, for example, the museum was offered an old sphygmomanometer, a cuff for measuring blood pressure. It turned out that rubber on the utensil was rotting, allowing toxic mercury to be revealed out.
Source: StarNewsOnline.com