Archives Month – No Food & Drink in Archives

Black Carpet Beetle, Louis Sorkin

Black Carpet Beetle, Louis Sorkin

Shari Theroux contributed “Archives are not a good place to eat,” to the list of what an archives is not.

Archivists, like conservators generally follow the rule of “do no harm” to the collections in their care. One easy way to do this is to prohibit food and drink in rooms where records are stored, processed and used by patrons.

The obvious damage comes from spillage onto documents that at worst would make them completely unreadable and at least deface them irreversibly. Mold can set up in wet documents rather quickly and spread to other documents. It is difficult and expensive to erradicate once it takes hold.

Food is prohibited because it can attract rodents and insects. Once insects have found their way into books, they can be removed through fumigation or freezing. Insects can eat their way through a collection rather quickly leaving only fragments behind.

Removing human food and drink from the archives prevents them  from becoming the insects’ and rodents’ favorite snack bar.

28 Comments

Filed under Events, University Archives

28 Responses to Archives Month – No Food & Drink in Archives

  1. I inevitably visit your blog.Hope you’re well, am trying to play a bit of catch up.

  2. Well, you seem to have mastered the art of blogging…I’ve never seen anyone get such a huge response from a ham sandwich and a Pepsi !!!

  3. I like what I see. keep it going

  4. This is very nice post

  5. gratitude makes the world go around… thanks for the story

  6. i am your biggest fan. I am reading all of your works

  7. Thank you my friend, you brought a tear to my eye.

  8. what a nice tradition :o)

  9. I’ve bookmarked, Dugg, and I joined the RSS subscription. Thanks!

  10. Truly happy i found it on yahoo.I was talking with my friends yesterday about this topic and I have to admit you cleared out a lot of stuffs

  11. Great information and excellent theme you’ve gt here!

  12. This is a great article. Thanks for sharing this.

  13. Another new inclusion, I truly couldn’t have explained that much better myself.

  14. Hello, I used to be researching the internet & I discovered your web site. Keep up the superb work.

  15. Very Interesting Information! Thank You For Thi Blog!

  16. Very Interesting Blog! Thank You For Thi Post!

  17. Very Interesting Post! Thank You For Thi Information!

  18. I just book marked your blog on Digg and StumbleUpon.I enjoy reading your commentaries.

  19. Very informative post. Thanks for taking the time to share your view with us.

  20. I agree with your thoughts here and I really love your blog! I’ve bookmarked it so that I can come back & read more in the future.

  21. Hello! I am visiting your site again to see more of your update post. And found here another interesting post to be read. All the Best!

  22. I like your style, the fact that your site is a little bit different makes it so interesting, I get fed up of seeing same-old-same-old all of the time. I’ve just stumbled this page for you

  23. Substantially, the post is really the freshest on this notable topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your upcoming updates. I want to say thanks will not just be adequate, for the great clarity in your documentation. I will right away grab your rss feed to stay informed of any updates. Gratifying work and much success in your business dealings!

  24. It absolutely looks to be so.Great post by the way!

  25. Strange this post is totaly unrelated to what I was searching google for, but it was listed on the first page. I guess your doing something right if Google likes you enough to put you on the first page of a non related search. 🙂