Storage Question

[gap]

I recently purchased a mint M1939 dress coat. Looking for opinions on the best method of long term storage. Thanks.

[Patriot]

In my area, we have a bad problem with moths. Most of my uniforms are kept on a hanger, sealed up in a garment bag, and approximately 200,000 lbs of moth balls.

 

My old uniforms (which should not be stored on a hanger) are kept in a sealed clothing box, with mothballs. By old, I am talking about pre-20th century.

[gap]

Are cedar chips/balls a viable alternative to napthylene?

[teufelhunde.ret]

Are cedar chips/balls a viable alternative to napthylene?

 

Yes, every 5-6 months or so soak the Cedar wood pieces with cedar oil to retain the cedar scent. Moths do not like cedar, thats why our folks always used ceder chests. (hint - hint)

[suwanneetrader]

I to have used garmet zipper bags with moth balls for over 30 years. As my wife is Ojibwe "Chippewa" Indian we also have 100 + year old items from her tribe and about 20 years ago I found that if you also have old trade beads in the same cabinet or case where you put moth ball some types of beads will crack and break. I guess from the naptha gas released ?? I really do not know for sure what caused but when moth balls removed no more breakage. Richard

[Shenkursk]

I recently purchased a mint M1939 dress coat. Looking for opinions on the best method of long term storage. Thanks.

 

The ideal for long-term storage is always flat and in an acid-free, temperature and humidity controlled environment. Even better if you use acid-free tissue to create buffers so that folds and creases do not weaken the materials, especially those that are prone to become brittle such as old silks and polished cotton.

 

Most of us cannot do that with everything, so prioritizing by item type as Patriot has suggested is the next best practical solution.

 

As for moth protection, the old saying that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure really does apply here - big time. Check everything over thoroughly before you store it. If there are eggs in a garment, you could bury it under a mountain of moth balls, and when they hatch they are still going to eat your uniform.

 

Napthylene and cedar are deterrents only. These are essentially ankle-high barbed wire fences. Neither will prevent an infestation if the other conditions in your environment are ripe for one. If you only take in egg and larvae-free material and store it properly, chances are you will not have a problem, whether you use deterrents or not. If you accidentally introduce an infested piece of material into even the best possible environment, chances are 100% that you will have problems.

 

Dry cleaning is one way to eliminate eggs, but there are risks and issues with that also. Back in my museum days, we used to vacuum clothing (unless it was fragile) through a special screen that prevented the nozzle of the equipment from coming into direct contact with the artifact. It was a labor intensive, time consuming process, but well worth it in the end.

 

Some museums also use a freeze / thaw method with new acquisitions. This mimics a season / climate change, and essentially tricks the eggs into hatching. The eggs are relatively invulnerable as long as they remain eggs, but once in the larvae stage (where all of the damage is done to your stuff), they are quite vulnerable. Another quick freeze, and they're tango uniform. We were using this method ourselves, until the pest control specialists that we consult with informed that the temperature required to be effective with this method cannot be easily achieved with a standard consumer level freezer. The fact that we had 'success' was simply because the material that we were running through the process as a precaution was clean to begin with.

 

Now we simply have the place professionally fumigated on a regular basis. A good precaution for moths, but it also gets rid of the brown recluse spiders, ants, and other things that would rather live in here than outside.

 

Since long-term storage is your stated goal, let me also suggest that you be sure to take these out and inspect them regularly. If a problem does develop, things can get out of control very quickly.

 

There is all kinds of good info on the net about this enemy of our collections - here are just two links:

 

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05599.html/

 

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef609.asp

[American Heritage]

great info here.

 

What about finding uniforms that already have moth holes in them with no other signs of eggs? Can we conclude that the moths are done eating at that fabric or is it too dangerous to even store these types of already eaten uniforms with other good uniforms? Maybe those are 2 ends of the spectrum and there are degrees of caution in between, but I would just like to know some general rules.

[Rakkasan187]

great info here.

 

What about finding uniforms that already have moth holes in them with no other signs of eggs? Can we conclude that the moths are done eating at that fabric or is it too dangerous to even store these types of already eaten uniforms with other good uniforms? Maybe those are 2 ends of the spectrum and there are degrees of caution in between, but I would just like to know some general rules.

 

 

Stick the item in the freezer, for a few weeks. If there are moths still living you will freeze them. Then you can go about treating with cedar chips and moth balls.. Place the item in bag in the freezer.

 

Leigh