Thanks to everyone who got back to me about micro-cracking when freezing specimens. Bethany Palumbo sent along some helpful articles I thought I’d share:
Tom Strang of CCI has written largely on this subject.
http://museumpests.net/solutions-fact-sheets/solutions-low-temperature-treatment/ also states that doing it preventively is quite alright, with which I’d agree.
Here are some articles to look at, sorry I can’t find the link to them though!
·
Strang T.J.K. 1992. A review of published temperatures for the control of pest insects in museums. Collection Forum, 8(2), pp. 41-67
·
Strang, Thomas J.K. The effect of thermal methods of pest control on museum collections. pp. 199-212 in 3rd International Conference on Biodeterioration of Cultural
Property, 4-7 July, 1995, Bangkok,Thailand: Preprints. Bangkok: Organizing Committee of ICBCP-3, 1995
·
Strang, T.J.K. Sensitivity of seeds in herbarium collections to storage conditions, and implications for thermal insect pest control methods. Chapter 4, pp. 81-102
in Managing the Modern Herbarium, An Interdisciplinary Approach. Ed. D.A. Metsger and S.C. Byers. Elton-Wolf, 1999, Vancouver. 384 pp. ISBN 0-9635476-2-3
Clare Brown
From: The Natural Science Collections Association discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Brown, Clare
Sent: 13 August 2015 11:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Freezing specimens
Hello,
Does anyone have any advice on micro-cracking when freezing natural science specimens please? I’ve recently been asked about the following and I don’t know
what the up-to-date advice is:
"Current thinking is that only objects displaying obvious signs of infestation should be treated. Freezing may cause micro cracks in the cellular walls which
can lead to degradation so best to use it as a treatment for reacting to a positive infestation rather than as a ' just in case' method."
We freeze everything that goes into the store at Leeds. Please would you send me any comments/recent publications/evidence for cracking/thoughts off list:
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Thanks in advance,
Clare Brown
Curator of Natural Science
Leeds Museums and Galleries
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