Use of desiccant in longterm storage

Moser Muriel <muriel.moser [at] mairie-elbeuf__fr> writes

>I work for an important natural history collection where it is
>2000-3000 insects boxes.  With the museum team we want to test
>desiccants inside insects boxes for long term conservation. We want
>to now if anyone has any experience in this subject.

For long term storage we recommend bags of desiccant clay, since
silica gel slowly will loose its properties over the years. We offer
the bags of desiccant clay pre-conditioned at the desired RH-level,
since often the desiccant bags should not be used totally dry. We
recommend using bags of high barrier films such as ESCAL or
aluminium barrier film or bags of one side ESCAL--one side aluminium
barrier film. A humidity indicator strip should be added to each
bag. All information can be found on our website. Another solution
is using well sealed metal drums or air tight aluminium boxes with
screwed-in windows containing an indicator strip.

Christoph Waller,
Long Life for Art
Im Bueckle 4, 79288 Gottenheim, Germany
+49 7665 94 03 90
Fax: +49 7665 94 03 91


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 20:41
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 25, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-20-41-001
                                  ***