Vinegar syndrome

The National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,
recently opened a Chubb fire safe that had been inaccessible for two
decades.  The contents had vinegar syndrome and have been disposed
of appropriately, but we would like to re-use the safe to store
nineteenth century manuscripts.  However, even after some weeks of
"airing" it continues to have a vinegar odour.  We have also left
carbon activated pellets in the closed safe for a week, and
bicarbonate of soda for one week, but the smell lingers.  The
shelving and fittings are powder coated metal, but the lining
appears to be a laminate of some sort.  Does anyone have any advice
to help us make the safe a safe storage space for the manuscripts,
or must it also be disposed of?

Deborah Sutherland
Operations Curator
National Art Library, Word and Image Department, V&A


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:35
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 18, 2014
                       Message Id: cdl-27-35-015
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