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).