Preserving Cultural Heritage Through Museum Collaboration
As New Brunswick’s provincial museum, the New Brunswick Museum not only works with its own collections but also provides support to other museums across the province. This collaborative approach was exemplified when a memento mori—or death memorial—owned by the Musée Acadien de Caraquet required restoration for exhibition at the Musée acadien de l’Université de Moncton. New Brunswick Museum Conservator Dee Stubbs-Lee provided the necessary conservation treatment for the artifact to be displayed as part of the exhibition “Always Loved, Never Forgotten: Death and Mourning in Acadia.”
A Unique Funerary Artifact
As shown in Images 1-4, this memento mori commemorates Anna Duguay, wife of Alf. LeBoutillier, who died on June 8, 1910, at the age of 26. The memorial depicts a graveyard scene with a large wax cross, a smaller cross, and a casket enclosed under a glass dome. Most remarkably, the piece is embellished with a hairwork garland, which appears to be made using the hair of at least 14 different individuals.
“If you look carefully you can see the hair is not all from one individual: there are a number of different colors and textures of hair,” noted Stubbs-Lee. “As I was examining it for my condition report, I noticed that there are a number of little tiny numbered squares of paper. It’s possible each number refers to a different individual.”
Careful Transportation and Assessment
The first challenge presented by the memento mori fell to New Brunswick Museum Conservator Claire Titus: safely transporting the artifact to the New Brunswick Museum Collections and Research Centre in Saint John. The memorial needed to remain upright with the glass dome in place to protect the fragile wax cross and hairwork, while the glass itself required protection from breakage and contact with the artwork inside. Titus transported the memento mori in a large Rubbermaid container with acid-free cushioning materials to absorb vibration.
Upon arrival at the Conservation Lab, Stubbs-Lee conducted a thorough assessment. Various elements required treatment: the glass needed cleaning, the textile element washing, crevices required vacuuming to remove mold and insects, paper components needed stabilization, and the cracked wax needed filling and stabilization. All interventions had to be performed with minimal contact to the fragile hairwork, which was relatively well-preserved despite being slightly damaged by insects and brittle with age.
The Conservation Process
After developing and receiving approval for a treatment proposal from the Musée Acadien de Caraquet, Stubbs-Lee began the meticulous conservation work:
- Glass Cleaning: The glass dome was cleaned with vinegar, and hardened dirt was carefully removed using a surgical scalpel.
- Textile Treatment: As shown in Images 5-8, a layer of purple chenille yarn that encircled the graveyard scene was dry-cleaned and removed. This element was extremely dusty and had been infested with mold and insects, including carpet beetles. After conducting a spot test to ensure the dye would not run, the chenille was immersed in a bath of warm distilled water and mild conservation detergent. Distilled water was used because it contains fewer impurities, such as metal particles, which can damage artifacts over time. After washing, the chenille was pinned out to dry properly without shrinking.
- Paper Documentation: As shown in Image 9, fragments of paper inscribed with parts of names were discovered within the artifact. Although missing sections and poor condition prevented full restoration, these fragments were carefully documented and preserved for research purposes.
- Wax Stabilization: As shown in Images 10-12, Stubbs-Lee stabilized cracks in the large wax cross, which had been damaged by extreme temperature fluctuations. Following conservation principles, she filled the cracks with materials similar but slightly softer than the original, ensuring that any future stress would affect the new materials rather than the original artifact.
“In conservation we try to use materials similar to the original because it reacts the same way to the environment,” explained Stubbs-Lee. “Whenever I put a fill in an artwork—in this case the wax—you want to make sure that the adhesive or the material that you put in there is more vulnerable than the original. That way, if something is going to let go, it’s going to be the new material, not the original material adjacent to the repair. Stronger adhesives, for example, are not always better.”
Using dental tools, she filled the primary crack with surgical cotton, which provides stability while remaining easily removable if necessary—adhering to the conservation principle that all interventions should be reversible. She then covered the cotton with orthodontic wax, applied using tweezers and gently heated with a warm tacking iron on low setting to flow evenly into the crack without melting the original wax. The wax was shaped to match the original profile using various small tools.
Conservation Beyond Repair
As a final component of the treatment, Stubbs-Lee provided detailed recommendations for the future care and handling of the memento mori, including guidelines for appropriate light and temperature conditions.
“A key part of conservation work is the cleaning and repair of pieces. That is an important part of what we do,” she reflected. “It’s often what attracts conservators to the field—but conservation is really much more holistic than that. A lot of our job is predicting all the factors that put an artifact at risk of damage and figuring out what we can do to make those things less likely to happen.”
Following this comprehensive conservation treatment, the memento mori was exhibited at the Musée acadien de l’Université de Moncton from October 7, 2015, to April 17, 2016, allowing visitors to appreciate this unique artifact of Acadian mourning traditions.
