[Nhcoll-l] Smoke in the collections

[Hannu Saarenmaa]

Earlier this year we digitized 200,000 sheets from one medium-size 
herbarium. Often when I handled samples collected by a certain collector 
in the 1920-1950s, I had to cough.  Tobacco-like smell was still dense.  
Surprising but hardly amusing.

Hannu Saarenmaa

On 2020-07-30 2:37, Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) wrote:
>
> Having survived the dense smoke of the bushfires in SE Australia this 
> year, I would say that it will just go away on its own eventually…I 
> can’t give you a timeline, though, as I think we may have got 
> habituated to the smell before it actually went away. I would not air 
> things out, due to pest concerns; we never died, either in the 
> collections or at home, and the smell eventually dissipated. So sorry 
> you have to deal with this, though, as I know how awful it is!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tonya
>
> *From:*Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> *On Behalf Of 
> *Rachel Delovio
> *Sent:* Thursday, 30 July 2020 4:46 AM
> *To:* 'nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu' <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] Smoke in the collections
>
> Good afternoon everyone,
>
> Last Thursday afternoon, a brush fire (see attached images) approached 
> the fence line to our off-site curatorial facility. Fortunately, there 
> was no damage to the building, but there was a haze within the storage 
> areas. We have been airing out the facility since then, which is an 
> IPM concern; however, due to the smell of smoke, we feel there is no 
> other option. It has been a week of opening doors and running fans and 
> the smell of smoke is still lingering. Does anyone have any experience 
> with how long a smoky smell will persist? Fortunately, the haze was 
> gone the first 24 hours and I have not found soot.
>
> Thank you for your input.
>
> Rachel
>
> /Rachel Kaleilehua Delovio/
>
> /Anthropology Collections Manager/
>
> /Nevada State Museum/
>
> /600 N. Carson Street/
>
> /Carson City, NV 89701/
>
> /Phone: 775.687.4810 x229 /
>
> /Fax: 775.687.4168 /
>
> //
>
> //
>
> //
>
>
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