I ran into a large project involving heaps of moldy textiles, moccasins and woven mats. They had all been frozen already, but were covered in insect debris. I ended up sealing each one in plastic with thymol for several months while processing it. It worked very well. Each one was opened in a fume chamber to vent for a few hours and then cleaned. Mold seems to have been 100% eradicated. No smell or new growth after 2 years. Not sure if that helps, at all! Obviously different scenario... Cheers, Linda
On Thu, Sep 10, 2020, 12:28 AM Loes Knoop <l.kn...@helicon-cs.com> wrote: > Hi Dee, > > That's a very interesting and big project! > We work together with coldstores when we don't have enough space in our > own freezer. It's a cheaper option here than use freezer truck/containers > and it works very well! > > Good luck! > > Loes > > > Loes Knoop > Senior consultant IPM > l.kn...@helicon-cs.com > Helicon conservation support > Netherlands > > Op woensdag 9 september 2020 om 16:35:29 UTC+2 schreef dee.stubbs-lee: > >> The New Brunswick Museum has acquired a very large collection of over 400 >> mounted mammals. Some are very large species. About 60% are head and >> shoulder mounts, the other 40% are full body taxidermy mounts. Some have >> some associated diorama materials. >> >> >> >> These will be coming to us from an off-site, non-museum out of town >> location, where I am told they are densely stored in about a 1700 square >> foot space on private property. I have not seen this collection in person, >> only from photos. I am they need to be moved to the museum’s collections >> storage imminently, possibly within a few weeks and with as short as >> possible a processing turnaround time. The space that is being considered >> for housing them is the museum’s current preparation workshop, which is >> about 1780 square feet. We are no longer able to use this room for >> preparation work (wood working, painting, etc.) due to ventilation not >> meeting current health and safety guidelines. The workshop has direct >> access to a freight elevator and to an exterior single size door. It has a >> concrete floor and is located on the museum’s basement level. The adjacent >> collections storage rooms house our most pest-vulnerable collections: >> textiles and ethnographic collections. This workshop room is located >> directly below the conservation lab and loading bay. >> >> >> >> We have a small walk in freezer for IPM that is used by all museum >> departments, but this is not adequate to process this large acquisition, >> and many of the mounts may not physically fit in any case. The curator in >> charge of the project would like to avoid hiring freezer trucks, and >> prefers fumigation. >> >> >> >> These mounts are from within the last 50 years or so, so I am hoping that >> arsenic and related hazards may be less of an issue than with older >> mounts, although I worry about health and safety aspects of fumigating on >> site, especially as my office is immediately above this space. >> >> >> >> In addition to my pest related concerns (mainly protecting our other >> collections), I have been told that some of the mounts have visible mold >> growth as well as a musty odour, so these are challenging on many fronts >> >> >> >> I am looking for advice on freezing vs fumigation (onsite or off site) vs >> inspection and HEPA vacuuming only, and for dealing with this on an >> extremely tight time frame and with extremely limited resources. I have >> never dealt with an IPM project of comparable size and scope before, so all >> advice is appreciated! >> >> >> >> Dee >> >> >> >> *Dee A. Stubbs-Lee, MA, CAPC* >> >> *Conservator / Restauratrice* >> >> *New Brunswick Museum* >> >> *277 Douglas Avenue* >> >> *Saint John, New Brunswick* >> >> *E2K 1E5* >> >> *Canada* >> >> >> >> *(506) 643-2341 <(506)%20643-2341>* >> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MuseumPests" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/3b12db6f-9e2c-434a-97db-5dfd1f9a309cn%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/3b12db6f-9e2c-434a-97db-5dfd1f9a309cn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAL5sHxeP_tRyaZRb%2B%2B8_XTiQsS1OwNKd8x%3DXz0iMRBXEEbYGcg%40mail.gmail.com.
