As I mentioned in my last posting, we are in the middle of moving objects from the old to the new store. Some of the objects have been in the old store for quite some time and have developed their own very distinctive odour!

When moths strike

We soon realised that in some cases the smell was in fact the by-product of moth activity. Moths are problematic in stores as they eat a variety of materials and can be very destructive, especially in textile collections.

Seal skin boot from East Greenland

We found moths had attacked a number of our textiles and this was evident when they were assessed prior to moving into the new store. Typical signs of moths include 'grazing' (essentially bald patches); small silk cocoons and frass (insect poo!). To prevent moths from doing further damage the objects are wrapped in plastic sheeting and frozen. At SPRI we are very lucky to have two walk-in freezers, one set at –30^oC and the other at 4^oC.

Walk-in freezers

After spending a week in each freezer the objects can be safely moved into the new store where they are unpacked and conserved. Freezing can also be used as a precautionary measure, too. In the end we decided to freeze all the textiles just in case they were hiding any beasties, hence the large number of wrapped boxes in the new textile store.

New Textile Store