The museum collection has had two recent food additions: a small basket with
candy coated, freeze-dried strawberries from the famous Nut Tree
restaurant/gift shop and a box of dried Burton prunes ( a prune developed
locally in the 1890s, commercially extinct since the 1940s - these are
probably the last existing ones).

Both owners kept these items in their respective refrigerators. The museum
has already had the strawberry basket on exhibit for more than a year -
without visible changes.

My question is: Should we keep both items indefinitely refrigerated or even
frozen? We don't have a refrigerator/freezer for artifacts only - and too
many volunteers/docents/staff members use the regular refrigerator, not
knowing the difference between yesterday's leftover food and an artifact.

I would appreciate your input.

Sabine Goerke-Shrode
Curator of Collections
Vacaville Museum, Vacaville, CA

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