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Hi Adrianne, When our budget didn't allow for fumigating our oversized objects, we had reasonable success in solar bagging our farm collections last summer. We saw reduced activity following this treatment. It was inexpensive and was easily carried out on oversized objects by our onsite staff. Perhaps ...

Hi Leslie, There are three ways to speed up off gassing; increase airflow/ventilation, increase temperature, decrease pressure (vacuum). A fume hood is a great way to treat a large volume of material with little impact on the objects. Increasing temperature may not be ideal for your collections, ...

Hi Jessica, Rather than acetone, address any future appearance of surface mold with a 50/50 solution of ethanol and water. Minimize the amount of saturation by using a spray or mister bottle rather than direct application to the surface. As for the mustiness, environmental controls and good air circulation ...

Hello Diana, I use Catharine Hawk's method. I have had success using the standard colorimetric quick arsenic test kits that are developed for water and soil testing when needing to qualify the presence of arsenic on ethnographic collections. This test isn't appropriate for quantitative measurements. ...

I can't recommend storing iron where it may be exposed to water as a flooding event can initiate a new corrosion event. If storage space is an issue, have you considered using high grade plastic totes or crates on your lowest shelves to protect collections from water ingress. ------------------------------ ...