Storage of textiles

>We have a clothing collection which we are moving into our archives.
>We want to store them on hangers and in such a way that dust cannot
>settle on the clothing. The DeYoung Museum in San Francisco uses muslin
>bags and then houses their clothing in metal cabinets to control dust.
>We cannot afford the cabinetry right now, either financially or in
>terms of space requirements. So, I would like to know if anyone uses or
>knows of a manufacturer of plastic clothing bags which are constructed
>of polypropylene or another safe form of plastic.

I hope a textile conservator answers your questions, but if not: I
don't know a supplier for such large polypropylene bags.  From my
limited knowledge of chemistry, I think you could also use
polyethylene, if you could find pure polyethylene without
plasticizers or other agents added.  However, I think anyone
answering your question needs a bit of background info:

What kind of textiles are you storing:

    *   Do they include wool, fur or other easily infested material?

    *   Do they include heavy or unusually cut garments which would
        be easily distorted if left on a hanger?

What is your archives storage room like:

    *   Is it already relatively well sealed against pests and dust?

All chemistry and physics aside, I just feel a little leery about
sealing everything in plastics bags, especially if unsure of the
quality of the plastic.  If you haven't got wool, fur, etc, and if
you have a well sealed storage already, you might be able to get by
with only the muslin garment bags, avoiding the polypropylene bags.
You could cover the entire collection of muslin-bagged textiles with
a single polyethylene dust cover, inspecting the collection on a
regular basis, changing the dust cover and cleaning loose dust from
the muslin bags if necessary.

In any case, the hangers should be padded with polyester quilt
batting covered by muslin, to provide broader more gentle support
against the stress of gravity on the shoulders of the garments.  See
Canadian Conservation Institute Notes or The ABCs of Collections Care
(Manitoba Heritage Conservation Service) for plans and patterns.

Even a padded hanger may not be sufficient support for a very heavy
or deteriorated garment, in which case you would need to use boxed
or drawer storage.  University Products
<URL:http://www.universityproducts.com> is one box supplier.

Hope this helps - it was fun writing. Sincerely,

Neal Putt

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:3
                   Distributed: Monday, June 23, 1997
                        Message Id: cdl-11-3-006
                                  ***