The role of standards and guidelines. Are they a substitute for understanding a problem or a protection against the consequences of ignorance

Abstract

Two environmental standards, for relative humidity and for light, are discussed in detail as examples of how poor definition of standards and a lack of understanding of the underlying physics leads to irrational, expensive and sometimes damaging distortion of the way museums are built and operated. The relative humidity (RH) standard is so strict that it can only be attained with mechanical air conditioning. A 50% RH standard is high enough to cause condensation damage to buildings in cool climates yet low enough to cause damage to objects that have attained a stress free condition at a high relative humidity in a church or a historic house. The lighting standard defines permitted illumination, which is based on the photosensitivity of the eye, instead of the permitted flux of photons in the spectral energy band which predominantly causes fading. We need, or need to publicise, standards and guidelines for the use of ancient and weak materials, such as lime mortar, which are disregarded by modern industrial craftsmen but are essential for responsible restoration of old artifacts and buildings. The conservation profession must develop rational and attainable environmental and material standards suitable for the whole range of historic relics.

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