Photographs and mothballs

A patron recently asked if it is wise to store photographs in
enclosures with mothballs.  My first reaction was to say "no, of
course not!" but I could think of no reason other than the fact that
it seemed like a strange thing to do to discourage her from doing
this.  I know mothballs have come up on the list in the recent past,
but I was hoping someone could give me a good, scientific,
no-nonsense reason why mothballs and photographs (and other paper
and archival materials) should not mix.  Or should it? Thanks for
your responses.

Laura Katz Smith
Manuscripts Curator
Special Collections Department
Virginia Tech Libraries
Blacksburg, VA  24062-9001

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:36
                 Distributed: Sunday, October 22, 1995
                        Message Id: cdl-9-36-016
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