Greetings William, While I was at the Toledo Museum of Art in 2018, we undertook a huge treatment to blast freeze tens of thousands of dried flowers in preparation for a special exhibition. This was more of a preventative measure to ensure this collection was not infested with any type of insect that may have also had an interest in the art in our neighboring galleries. We knew the collection had been stored in a warehouse that was not climate controlled to museum standards for well over a year and we would not have had enough time to carry out a treatment of this scale if we had waited to inspect all the boxes of flowers for bugs until after they had arrived at the museum for installation.
We specifically chose to blast freeze the collection because we did not want to risk condensation damaging the dried flowers. A blast freezer will quickly get you well below freezing within a few hours and we essentially were freeze-drying the collection to prevent moisture retention in the flowers. All the flowers were stored in cardboard boxes and the cardboard also acted as a barrier layer against moisture. I did a bunch of research on commercial blast freezers and had to contact several companies before I found one that could work with us. Like Christa mentioned, most of these companies deal with the food industry and long term freezer rentals. Some did not want to rent to us for such a short period of time (1 month). I finally found Klinge Corporation ( https://klingecorp.com/), based out of York, PA and they might be a great place for you to start. They were so helpful and very excited about our project. I was able to rent a 40-ft blast freezer from them and we had it on-site for a little over a month. I also then had to find a 3rd party trucking company to pickup/dropoff the freezer (I believe Klinge recommended the company we used), hire a local crane company to unload/load the freezer from the truck and electricians to hook the generator up to our building. Luckily, we also had the perfect spot to place the freezer on museum property directly next to the powerhouse, so you'll have to think about where you could place it. There were a lot of moving parts, but the treatment was a success and it was an interesting project to take on. This may be more than you need for your textiles, but it may give you a better idea of what you will need to plan for. I was not able to find an actual freezer truck that could run on its own power, but that's not to say you won't be able to find one in your area. Let me know if you have questions and feel free to contact me offline if you would like more details. Good luck, Stephanie On Mon, Aug 31, 2020 at 10:40 AM William Donnelly <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello PestList Community – > > > > Our exhibits registrar is asking about renting a large truck freezer to > treat an incoming textile loan. I need to get more information from her > with regards to whether the costumes will be mounted etc. > > > > However, I wonder if any of you have experience renting these trucks and > if could offer advice on what to look for in a service provider. I am at > Winterthur Museum, so we are likely looking for a company in the > Philadelphia region, so recommendations are also welcome. > > > > Also, I am familiar with chest freezer treatment protocols, would > treatment in these large freezers be any different? > > > > Thank you in advance, > > William > > > > > > *William Donnelly* > > Associate Preventive Conservator & Affiliated Assistant Professor WUDPAC > > Conservation Department > > Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library > > Direct 302.888.4680 > > Cell 302.750.1797 > > 5105 Kennett Pike > > Winterthur, DE 19735 > > *winterthur.org* > > Preferred Pronouns (he, him, his) > > > > > > -- > 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 on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/27257F74-4FD1-4CEB-B7A0-19292409E8A8%40contoso.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/27257F74-4FD1-4CEB-B7A0-19292409E8A8%40contoso.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- *Stephanie Spence* *Objects Conservation Fellow* *Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art* *p: 610-216-0391* *e. [email protected] <[email protected]>* -- 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 on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAEVnL8bNohRb7xHN7iaBRCUu%2B07067x%3DrAYNW2TKK%2BZs5g9DPA%40mail.gmail.com.
