Hi, I'm a botanist and curator of the New York State herbarium. We routinely freeze herbarium specimens to kill cigarette beetles. I've also used the technique on my personal collection of Navajo weavings, just to be on the safe side before adding an item to the collection. I've never noticed any problems with either the herbarium specimens (dried, pressed plants taped or glued to paper sheets) or to the weavings. The herbarium specimens are simply placed in the freezer in stacks. I've rolled and then wrapped the weavings in plastic as you suggest. The treatment seems to be effective. We don't have any data on effective temperatures nor time intervals for cigarette beetles, but for dermestids, the accepted treatment is -20 C for a minimum of 4 days. Our freezer goes to nearly -33, and I tend to put the stuff in for a couple weeks, just to be safe. The main problem in terms of efficacy is diapause. Most of the insects are probably actively reproducing, but it is possible, especially at this time of the year, that some might become dormant in preparation for winter. They then might survive the cold treatment. With particularly dirty herbarium material, then, after a few weeks in the freezer, I move them to a heated cabinet at about 35-40 C for about 5 - 7 days, then return them to the freezer. I hope that any diapausing insects would become active in the heat, and then be killed by the return to the freezer. I don't know that this would actually work, but it is simple enough to do. Good luck, Chuck Sheviak Curator of Botany New York State Museum Albany, NY 12230 [log in to unmask] >>> [log in to unmask] 08/23/01 05:52PM >>> 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). ========================================================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).