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)
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