Ugh carpet beetles.

YOur plan seems like a good one, though I might simplify it a couple ways.
My institution has an ongoing carpet beetle problem I inherited, so I did
some research on the topic last fall.  The most commonly cited plan for
effective freezer treatments was to freeze articles for 2 days at a
temperature below -4 degrees F, move them to room temp to thaw for a
couple days, and return them to the freezer for another 2 days at the same
low temp.  Articles should be tightly enclosed in plastic, as you
proposed, and that should prevent any condensation from harming fibres,
and metals.  The reason for the two cycles is because the beetles have a
certain hardiness for resisting cold temperatures, in the form of a sort
of dose of "antifreeze" that is activated when they are first exposed to
low temps.  THis gets used up at the first freezing, and a second freezing
will catch them defenseless.  I can't remember where I read this, but I
will look it up in my files if any one is interested.  Probably somewhere
on CoOl.

Another key to sucess is ensuring the freezing happens quickly.  The core
temp of the item being frozen needs to reach -4F within 24 hours in order
to offset the beetle's ability to protect itself (presumably the same
"anti-freeze" mechanism ?)  TO monitor this in my GE chest freezer we use
for carpets, I bought a little outdoor-reading thermometer at Radio Shack
that has a sensor on a wire that can be tucked into the plastic into the
heart of the piece being frozen.  The wire runs under the freezer door
with minimal disruption to the seal, and allows me to see on the digital
readout exactly what temperature the piece is at at any time.  These are
cheap ($10) and well worth it.  Because of the need for a quick freeze, I
might recomend not putting your collections in closed boxes, as this would
provide an insulating layer that would give bugs more time to adjust.  An
open tray should give fragile cloth the support it needs without the
insulation.  Also, I try to put only a few pieces in at a time to not tax
the cooling efficiency too greatly, but with a walk-in this probably is
less of an issue.

SOmeone else noted they clean things thoroughly before freezing, though we
will often only do a surface vacuum of carpets before freezing, since they
will need to be cleaned very well post-freezing to suck the dead creatures
out.  I chose this schedule to reduce redundant wear on carpets... perhaps
the plan should be different for clothing, or perhaps my logic is
flawed... I'm interested in hearing other opinions on that.

I follow the thread with interest,

Juliette Rogers
Collections Manager and Registrar
Stephen Phillips Trust House
Salem, MA

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

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . 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).