[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Smoke Removal



I bought some books from a retired faculty member, and put them on shelves in my
office.  A day or two later, I realized that said professor had been in the
habit of fumigating his brains with Optimos.  My office smelled like a back room
at a political convention.  My response was to shelve the offending volumes in
my garage for a year.  The books eventually ceased off-gassing cigar fumes, and
I brought them back into the house.  Kevin's idea of boxing the volumes with an
open box of baking soda sounds like an even better suggestion.

Charlie
Charles V. Mutschler, Ph.D.
Archives & Special Collections
Eastern Washington University
-30-

"Bunker, Kevin" wrote:

> Although there may be a slight chemical migration problem, I have found that
> a temporary (say, 6 months) laying-in of an Airwick scent-neutral deodorizer
> stick (the ones in the plastic containers) and left barely open inside a box
> with the books/objects has gotten rid of the harsh nicotene odor. The better
> solution, come to think of it, might be a barely opened box of baking soda,
> securely wedged into the storage box, or left out in a temporary store room
> with the objects on tables.
> I have handled some collections, paper, plastic, ceramic, wood, etc. that
> have been absolutely coated with old airborne nicotene and tar from
> chain-smoker donors. Ugh! The ceramic stuff (glazed only) and plastics got
> handwashed. Everything else was left alone.
>
> Kevin V. Bunker
> Student Assistant
> California State Archives
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>