Greetings from the snowdrifts:

The Blizzard of 1996 has past, being billed as only the 3rd
largest in the history of New York City.  The snow reminded
my father of a family artifact, currently housed in his
attic, about which I'm asking your collective advice:

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?

With thanks for your help,

Jenni Rodda, Curator
Visual Resources Collections
Institute of Fine Arts
1 East 78th Street
New York, NY  10021
(212) 772-5872, (212) 772-5807 fax, [log in to unmask]