Greetings, Rob, I suggest you consider making MarvelSeal bags to hold groups of boxed cassettes and using oxygen-scavengers to both eliminate all life phases silverfish and any other insects who might have joined their party. The procedure is outlined here, with references and suppliers annotated: https://museumpests.net/solutions-oxygen-scavenger-treatment/
Once the scavenger treatment period of 21 days is complete, the cassettes can remain inside the sealed bags, and you can more systematically open one and do the vacuuming, cleaning, re-boxing and sealing for storage, as time permits. The sterilized materials can remain inside their sealed, MarvelSeal bags and remain safe from re-infestation or pheromone - chemical attraction for other passerby insects on the outside of your buildings. We routinely do this process here, so feel free to write me if you want further advice. Dale Kronkright Head of Conservation Georgia O'Keeffe Museum [email protected] 505-946-1041 On Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 12:32:11 PM UTC-6 Rob.Ridgen wrote: > Hello, > > > > A large collection of videotapes may be coming to my institution on > temporary deposit until the tapes can be reformatted and the digitized > video transferred to a managed environment. During an assessment of the > collection at the current, less than ideal storage location, dead > silverfish nymphs were discovered inside several Betacam cassettes, and the > move is now on hold until I can come up with a mitigation plan. > > > > Alternative secure locations in town are unlikely to be found, and I > expect that an approach that involves labour-intensive container > inspection, cleaning, re-boxing, and container sealing is the most likely > approach that will be used to eliminate or control any potentially live > insect pests in this collection. > > > > However, before proceeding, I thought I’d check to see what others may > have used before I decide upon any one particular approach. > > > > Does anyone know of an archives or similar institution that has used > sanitation, cool, heat, or fumigation to eliminate silverfish or other > insect pests from magnetic tape collections? > > > > I’d be interested in knowing about things like costs, safety issues, how > successful the method was, and if the method caused any damage (e.g., > separation of lubricants from tape formulation…). > > > > Thank you in advance for any advice or suggestions you can provide. > > > > Best regards, > > > > *Rob Ridgen* > > Manager > > Tourism and Culture | Yukon Archives > > T 867-667-3556 <(867)%20667-3556> | C 867-332-4456 <(867)%20332-4456> | > Yukon.ca > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/74cffb88-257a-4a3c-86ce-c47b6239ac8an%40googlegroups.com.
