>
>My father's family lived in Brooklyn for many years, and
>weathered the blizzard of 1888.  My great-grandfather took
>some of the snow that had piled up outside his home, melted
>it down, and sealed it in a bottle (I think he used parrafin
>and foil), labelling it as carefully as if it were a museum
>object.  The bottle still exists; it is still sealed rather
>well, but fully half of the quart of snowmelt originally
>contained there has evaporated away.  That it took more than
>a century to lose half the volume of the snowmelt seems
>remarkable to me.
>
>My question is this:  what is the best way to preserve this
>particular artifact?  I wouldn't be the least bit surprised
>to discover, via this listserv, that there is a Museum of
>Blizzards out there--Should this bottle be bequeathed to
>such a museum?  Is there any interest in the chemical composition
>of 19th century snowmelt?

The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) which does
atmospheric research might be interested in analyzing the contents of the
bottle.  Since it contains products of the atmosphere from over a hundred
years ago and it has been sealed since then, it could yeild some telling
data about Brooklyn's air quality during the 1880s.  I would urge you to
contact them asap.  Ask them for an opinion on the research quality of the
sample.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Henry B. Crawford                                       v
Curator of History                                       v
Museum of Texas Tech University               v
Box 43191                                                   v
Lubbock, TX  79409-3191                         v
806/742-2442                                          v
FAX 742-1136                                            v
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All opinions expressed are mine                   v
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