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Re: RAIN 04/26: Salt as a preservation tool



My predecessor, Jesse E. Boell, worked for the National Archives (perhaps
through the US Military) at the end of WWII and had the job of coping with
Nazi records in salt mines in Northern Germany.  He told me that at first
they tried to bring the records "as is" to the surface but the humid air
coming into contact with the salt dust on the documents (probably caused by
marching men, equipment, etc. down in the mine) caused the papers to
shrivel and they had to clean the documents down in the mine.

Frank Cook



At 09:32 AM 4/26/00 -0400, you wrote:
The last sentence of this article mentions how "After a day's work,
employees can taste the salt on their skin."  Salt corrodes metal.
What would be the long term effect of that salt on documents and film
negatives.  I realize that to a certain extent the records and films
would be protected by  boxes, but are the outer enclosures replaced
on a regular basis?

Daily Southtown 4/24/00
Salting away history
Warehouse in Kansas salt mine preserves national treasures
http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsliving/241ld1.htm

Gerri Schaad
Archivist
Virginia Tech

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J. Frank Cook                     Voice:  608/262-3290
Univ. of Wis.- Madison Archives     FAX:  608/265-2754
B134 Memorial Library          Internet:  jfcook@library.wisc.edu
728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706-1494      My views -- not necessarily the UW's

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