RE:  plastic bags and artifacts

Just another example of how plastic "bags' are used by museums.

Approximately  9 summers ago, I was involved in a major collection move at
the Nation Museum of Science & Technology in Ottawa, Canada.  The move
culminated in the complete relocation of the museum's ground transportation
collection from several storage sites to one.  The move took approximately 3
weeks to complete and in that time we relocated perhaps 75 automobiles, 50
carriages/wagons/sleds and perhaps 20 motorcycles.

The move itself is not really the  issue - the issue, is that we "ziplocked"
each and every one of those blasted vehicles.  Actually we constructed our
own bags by heat sealing "big, bigger and biggest" sheets of plastic
together to meet our needs.  The goal was to get the vehicles into the new
storage area and seal them ASAP to prevent insect migration/infestation.
Once all the vehicles were secured, staff then set about a large scale C02
fumigation process by which affected vehicles were removed from there "bag"
and fumigated.  New bags were constructed as needed.

Since the details provided are a bit sketchy, I recommend anyone who is
interested contact the NMST Conservation department directly.

Patti Davis-Perkins
Artifact Documentation
Canadian Museum of Civilization
> ----------
> From:         [log in to unmask][SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To:     Museum discussion list
> Sent:         Tuesday, June 22, 1999 10:56 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Artifact Storage
>
> Re: Polyethylene bags
>
> Where I used to work everything was kept in sealed polyethylene.  A
> little research will show you that polyethylene is not an effective
> barrier to oxygen (on a small scale - the usually warnings about not
> playing with bags over one's head apply) or water vapor, so as long as
> you do not have rapid, severe climate (usually temperature) changes in
> your storage area, you should not experience condensation.  Most modern
> storage areas are built with the idea of minimizing the rate at which
> the temp. and rH change, even in the event of a HVAC systems failure, so
> this works out OK.
>
> It is an EXCELLENT barrier against dust, oils from groping curatorial
> hands, insect activity (won't kill 'em, but will often contain 'em, and
> makes droppings or other by-products obvious).  Plus, if your sprinklers
> (assuming) ever go off, the worst of the water damage will be minimized,
> too.
>
> It is easy to work with, and can be patched together to form larger
> containers using a sealing iron.  I used to bag canoes and totem poles.
> UV and light exposure did degrade the plastic, causing yellowing and/or
> loss of visibility through the bags.  Maybe it makes an OK barrier for
> that kind of damage, too?  Perhaps a regular cycle of replacing bags
> could provide an appropriate opportunity to review condition and
> inventory in general.
>
> There are some mixed opinions, I know, but I think those folks who have
> had bad experiences used plastic bags in an uncontrolled environment.
> Open bags or bags with holes are probably only a little less effective
> at the things I mentioned above.  I found an article somewhere backing
> this up - I will send the citation later.
>
> Best wishes!
> --
> Timothy L. Campbell
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/8189
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
> http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed
> information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
> message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should
> read "help" (without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
> [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff
> Museum-L" (without the quotes).
>

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://museums.state.nm.us/nmmnh/museum-l.html. You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).