We had a pest infestation in our Native American collection.  We were
advised to bag everything and put a muslin bag of silica gel in the bag to
absorb and then release any moisture.  We froze at -22 degrees for 3 days.
We did not refreeze and have not seen any infestation since.

Ann Eichelberg
Chief Registrar
Portland Art Museum
Portland, Oregon

-----Original Message-----
From: Jarrod Diels-Roll [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 2:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: plan to freeze


Hello.  I was hoping to get feedback from those of you who have experienced
freezing textile collections to kill pests.

A few months ago we discovered live carpet beetles (and plenty of dead ones)
in our costume/clothing collection (95% dresses, mostly from late 19th c.,
mostly silk or cotton) .  Our pest control people need us to clean
everything out of our three infested, small textile/costume storage rooms so
that they can do a "crack and crevice" treatment.  In the meantime, we plan
on freezing our costume collection to kill the pests.  This is our plan:

--place each item in a thick poly bag, making sure to pad the shoulders and
folds with acid free tissue.  Try to get out all of the air without
squishing the textile.  Seal bag.

--place a few bags in a box; seal, label, and inventory the box.

--place box in freezer for two weeks to kill the pests (the local grocery
store is donating space in their huge freezer which maintains a constant
temp way below freezing).  We will have about 25 boxes of textiles to
freeze.

--remove box after two weeks and keep in cool room until we place the
textiles back in the pest-free storage rooms.

These are my basic questions:

--should I freeze the textiles for two weeks?  what is the minimum amount of
time to freeze pests so they die?

--should I take special precaution with freezing costumes made of certain
materials?

--is there a rust danger when freezing and thawing costumes that contain
metal elements (like buttons, clasps, etc.)?

--anything else I should know or be aware of before implementing my plan?

Sincerely,

Jarrod Diels-Roll
Curator
Pejepscot Historical Museums
159 Park Row
Brunswick, ME 04011
207-729-6606
207-729-6012 (fax)

=========================================================
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).