Hi everyone. I asked Dr. Charles Tumosa, recently retired senior research
chemist from SCMRE, about the blood identification since he  ran the
analytical services of the Philadelphia police dept. for 18 years before
coming to SCMRE (he wrote the article about black powder residue on silk
flags). Here's his reply about blood stain identification:

>>> <[log in to unmask]> 1/24/2006 12:32:40 PM >>>
Mary,

The traditional (i.e. forensic spot tests, color development)  do NOT work
reliably on old bloodstains.  Crystal tests may work but are difficult to do
on stains over 100 years old.  The test would have to be immunological and
that requires some skill particularly in extracting the proteins since they
become rather insoluble with age.  National Medical Services in Willow Grove
PA used to do this type of testing and there are a number of places in CA
for blood and DNA testing there (The legal system set up a cottage industry
for this with a series of rulings).

This is NOT testing that can be done with a kit bought only for this
purpose. It requires skill and knowledge to interpret the results.

Charlie

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Ballard <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 11:51:45 -0500
Subject: Fwd: Blood stain identification


Charlie: A questions came into the TexCons list about blood id. Is there a
forensic chemist that does this type of work? Mary

>>> [log in to unmask] 1/24/2006 8:35:52 AM >>>
Hi everyone:

I have a client with a cotton Confederate (1860's) flag with stains that
have historically been considered to be blood.  My client is interested in
having the stains analyzed to confirm or disprove this.  I'm aware of
fairly
simple spot tests such as the one in Nancy Odegaard's book, but I wonder
how
accurate that would be on an aged stain on materials this old.  Plus the
fabric is intact in most of the stained areas and sample collection would
be
challenging.  Does anyone have experience working with an analytical lab
or
a forensic scientist (or other?) to identify aged stains as human blood?

Thanks,

Deborah Bede
Stillwater Textile Conservation Studio, LLC
Bradford, NH 03221
(603) 938-2310
(603) 938-2455 fax
[log in to unmask]
www.stillwaterstudio.org