I really caution you against regular fumigation and/or treatment without first discovering what kind of pest you are dealing with.  Some insects are relatively harmless to your collection, some can be an indication of higher levels of humidity, which is good information, but may not do any harm, and others may decide that munching on your collection is a good way to spend the afternoon.  You should bag up your specimens and either take them to a pest control service who will tell you what they are (they may not charge you if they hope you sign up for their service) or if you have a local university, entomologists would be able to tell you.  Or, if you prefer to learn on your own, you need a strong magnifying glass, although a microscope would be better, and information, with pictures, on the kinds of insects that are potentially harmful to collections.  The University of Ohio has an entomology dept. that has a great website where you can search for all kinds of insect information.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/htdigsearch/search.php

Insects that are potentially harmful to museum collections include:
cockroach
black carpet beetle
varied carpet beetle
common carpet beetle
furniture carpet beetle
silverfish
firebrats
booklice
indianmeal moth
powderpost beetle
deathwatch beetle
false powderpost beetle
furniture beetle
larder beetle
odd beetle
hide or leather beetle
black larder or incinerator beetle
webbing clothes moth
casemaking clothes moth
carpet or tapestry moth

Some of these are more harmful than others.  You still may have to get some identified by an expert even if you learn how to do some of this on your own.  Keep the specimens once you've identified them to help you identify future ones.

Good luck!
Erin


_______________________________________________
Erin Quinn
Collections Coordinator
City of Greeley Museums
919 7th Street
Greeley, CO 80631
(970) 350-9218
[log in to unmask]


>>> [log in to unmask] 09/06/02 01:10PM >>>
Good Afternoon,
Has anyone had any experience with object friendly ways of getting a variety
of bugs out of a historic home??  We regularly set bug traps and lately we
seem to be catching a lot me "specimens" than normal.  I'd love a way to
control the problem, but I fear for the objects!!
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Laura L. Hortz
Curator of Collections
Siouxland Heritage Museums.



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