Odor in safe

Bruce Cammack from Special Collections, Texas Tech University Libraries
Lubbock, TX 79409, <libop [at] ttacs1__ttu__edu> asked me to post the
following query to the list of which he is not a member.

    "I purchased a used safe over a year ago to store some of our more
    valuable material here in Special Collections.  It needed painting
    and received same.  However, when they brought it back, I quickly
    discovered there was a heavy paint smell to it, especially when you
    closed the drawers. I put in boxes of baking soda, and shut it.  It
    still stank. I opened it up for several months to let it air out.
    It still stank. Then we hauled the shelves outside to a covered area
    for a month or two. It still stank.  Finally the paint people gave
    it the old eyeball, and suggested some time in the hot sun would be
    just the ticket.  They took the shelves to the roof yesterday, just
    in time for copious amounts of water to fall on it, as well as few
    hailstones.

    Two questions: What are the long term effects of storing material in
    a closed environment such as a safe? What type of surface
    preparation should be applied to the metal?"

Thank you
Dina Schoonmaker
Oberlin College Library.

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 6:63
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 27, 1993
                        Message Id: cdl-6-63-006
                                  ***