Someone (was it Anita?) mentioned using Ziploc bags to seal moisture out
from artifacts.  This may work in the desert but in humid environments like
southern Indiana and Virginia in summer, as soon as you close the Ziploc
you can see the moisture condensing inside of the bag.  Nonetheless
we continued to use them because we feared paper bags would just get damp
and rip (especially when holding things like oil-soaked wood chips).
 
Are there any other types of containers appropriate for holding small
artifacts on a humid field site?
 
To give the example of where I worked this summer, objects were usually
transferred to an unairconditioned warehouse.  The types of artifacts include
wood, plastic, nails (often rusty), glass and scraps of fabric (burlap
sacks, etc).  Most of the big stuff was stored in cardboard boxes.  (Paper
and some fabric items do get put in archival boxes and transferred to the
air-conditioned archives after cleaning.)
 
Carolyn Brady
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              |  "The Industrial Revelation would never
 [log in to unmask]    |  have occurred but for the wave of great
 MA program in Public History ü  mechanical Inventors, e.g. Arkwright,
  Indiana University at       ü  who invented the Spinning Jenny, or
     Indianapolis             |  unmarried textile working girl."
                              ü    --Sellar & Yeatman, _1066 & All That_
_____________________________ ü_________________________________________