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Re: cleaning or painting a vault



Have you received any replies, yet?  I am a little puzzled that there has been
no discussion of your question on Archives and Archivists, since it seems a
question of some interest to all archivists.

My two cents:  I would not be enthused about washing the walls with vinegar
while there are records in the room.  (I would be a bit leery of the new paint,
too!)  When I was taking Preservation I read a story about an oil painting that
started to deteriorate unaccountably, and very rapidly -- it turned out the
source of the problem was a guard who felt the "No food or drink" signs were
for patrons only, and who liked to have vinegar on his fish and chips!  Vinegar
does evaporate at room temperature, so covering a large surface area with even
dilute vinegar in the vicinity of the records seems inadvisable.  A mild,
unscented dishwashing detergent would probably be better -- preferably without
any newfangled features (powerful grease cutting, etc.), which, again, might
involve volatiles that could be hazardous to the records, even if the overall
pH is high.  Just soap, in other words.

I hope you got more responses than this--

Sincerely,

Alaric Posey.

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