Tom Strang’s 1997 Canadian Conservation Institute Note 3/3, “Controlling Insect Pests with Low Temperature – Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) Notes 3/3” has a chart with the temperature / time relationships of 32 museum insect pests.
https://www.canada.ca/en/conservation-institute/services/conservation-preservation-publications/canadian-conservation-institute-notes/controlling-insects-low-temperature.html This could be useful. [Image] Dale Kronkright (he/him) Head of Conservation 505-946-1041 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum<https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/> From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Wendi Field Murray <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 10:18 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [PestList] Proper freezing temps for pest mitigation Hello, We recently received a woven woolen rug for our collection that shows signs of clothes moth activity (frass, casings, eggs) and we would like to mitigate with a low-temperature treatment before cleaning and introducing to our collections storage space. According to Museumpests, the ideal temperature should be sustained -20 F for 72 hours, though I cannot find a freezer on our campus that gets below a range of -10 to 10 F. Is this sufficient, or is there too big a risk they would survive the treatment at that temperature? Just need to know if there is wiggle room in the temp recommendations, or if I can justify a request from my institution for a colder freezer and/or anoxic treatment. Thank you! Wendi [cid:[email protected]] WENDI FIELD MURRAY, PHD COLLECTIONS MANAGER/REPATRIATION COORDINATOR, Archaeology & Anthropology Collection COLLECTIONS MANAGER, East Asian Art & Archival Collection Wesleyan University | Olin Library Exley Science Center, 301 | Middletown, CT 06459 P. 860 685-2085 pronouns: she/her/hers -- 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 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/BL0PR04MB4594937F63AB0A8A12471040C8BD2%40BL0PR04MB4594.namprd04.prod.outlook.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/BL0PR04MB4594937F63AB0A8A12471040C8BD2%40BL0PR04MB4594.namprd04.prod.outlook.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 [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/PH8PR11MB7024F04E976D31232CD114DEAEBD2%40PH8PR11MB7024.namprd11.prod.outlook.com.
