The use of adhesives for tear repair on artifacts created from gut skin is a largely underexplored topic in the conservation literature, creating the motivation for this preliminary study on the interaction between adhesives and processed intestines. The increased visibility of Alaskan Native collections in Europe, the United States, and Canada through exhibit or loan has necessitated treatments and revealed the gap in information required for making informed treatment decisions. This need prompted the current two-phase study underway at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute (MCI). In the first phase, trends in adhesive use on gut skin were identified by a review of the conservation literature, and through a survey of the condition and past treatment records of the parkas from NMAI and the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). This information was augmented by a Web-based survey of conservators currently working with adhesive repairs on gut skin. The results from these surveys informed the second phase of the research in which the interface between adhesives and gut skin was examined with scanning electron microscopy to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness and effects of adhesives as a treatment choice.