I recently found carpet beetles and larvae in some raw wool items that were brought into our historic house. I looked at various ways to treat it, and settled on "cooking" it in my home oven, since these were not artifacts and it seemed the easiest way to handle the problem. Assuming other items in your museum are not already infested, then getting rid of any existing critters this way should prevent problems, especially if your exhibit spaces are well sealed.
Anne ANNE T LANE, COLLECTIONS MANAGER THE CHARLOTTE MUSEUM OF HISTORY WHERE HISTORY HAS A HOME 3500 Shamrock Drive Charlotte NC 28215 tel 704-568-1774, ext 110 fax 704-566-1817 al...@charlottemuseum.org<mailto:al...@charlottemuseum.org> FEATURED EXHIBITS: Carolina Mountains - Photography of Margaret Morley Charlotte Stories - Our Collections, Your Treasures ________________________________ From: pestlist-ow...@museumpests.net [mailto:pestlist-ow...@museumpests.net] On Behalf Of Megan Mcintosh Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 4:32 PM To: pestl...@museumpests.com Subject: [pestlist] Using Raw Wool in Exhibit Space We are developing an exhibit about the woollen manufacturing industry at a small regional museum. We would like to include wool at various stages of development, starting with raw wool, to show to visitors how the machines process it. The curator is reluctant to use raw wool within the exhibit as someone told him a few years ago that it would attract pests, (though completed textile pieces are regularly displayed in the museum). Does anyone have advice on what could be done to treat raw wool so that it would not pose a threat to other artefacts in the space? If not, does anyone have ideas on how to realistically recreate wool? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Megan McIntosh (Student) Algonquin College, Applied Museum Studies
