[Nhcoll-l] Mold curiosity

Fri Jan 30 16:49:12 EST 2026

I'd be interested to hear if anyone is vouchering the molds. This could be a really cool research subject for grad students if vouchers were available.

Jamie

Jamie Minnaert (she/her)
Collections Manager for INHS & University Herbarium & Fungarium Collections

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Vice Chancellor Research Institutes
Illinois Natural History Survey
Herbarium

Mailing Address
1816 S. Oak St. | M/C 652
Champaign, IL 61820

Herbarium and office location
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Champaign, IL 61820

minnaert at illinois.edu<mailto:minnaert at illinois.edu>
www.inhs.illinois.edu<http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/>

[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign home]<http://illinois.edu/>

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Daniel Gluesenkamp <combined at calalive.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2026 10:39 PM
To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Cc: 'Nikolaj Scharff' <nscharff at snm.ku.dk>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Mold curiosity

"How extremophile molds are destroying museum artifacts" SciAm

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-extremophile-molds-are-destroying-museum-artifacts/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-extremophile-molds-are-destroying-museum-artifacts/__;!!DZ3fjg!9WCwmxrP8OrjXcpkL2yls7aqjJ4pttXvdBe8r0lyPhIWANj-Ldmyj82t9wdU5C_6YVANMvX3F5IkeHuFdJxd7Q$>

In the 1600s the Bibliotheca Angelica was run by Augustinian friars, an order of religious scholars that the pope charged with determining which texts would become libri prohibiti—forbidden books destined for the Catholic Church’s bonfires of heretical material.

Texts on astrology, alchemy, science and unorthodox religious thinking passed through the Augustinians’ hands. “The Augustinians studied them and censored them, but they did not destroy them,” Umberto D’Angelo, former director of the Bibliotheca Angelica, said in a press release. “Fortunately for us, they are all still here.”

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Tommy McElrath
Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2025 8:01 AM
To: Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Mold curiosity

We recently had a mold infestation in our types freezer on our wooden vial racks. The fridge is kept at low RH and around 0ºC. We did have an issue where it wasn’t kept exactly at that temperature due to a faulty compressor, but was still kept cold and low RH.

We didn’t ID the fungus, but did end up having to replace our entire type vial rack collection with all plastic ones, which was a significant expense. Michelle Kohler will be giving a short talk about this at SPNHC this year if anyone is interested. I wonder if it is related.

Sincerely,

--

TOMMY MCELRATH
Insect Collection Manager

Illinois Natural History Survey
Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Natural Resources Bldg.

615 E. Peabody Dr. | MC 650

Champaign, IL 61820

217-300-5938 | tcm at illinois.edu<mailto:tcm at illinois.edu>
insect.inhs.illinois.edu<https://insect.inhs.illinois.edu/>

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[Image removed by sender.]<http://illinois.edu/>

Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act any written communication to or from university employees regarding university business is a public record and may be subject to public disclosure.

On May 7, 2025, at 4:11 AM, Nikolaj Scharff <nscharff at snm.ku.dk> wrote:

More about the finding here:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724040282<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724040282__;!!DZ3fjg!9WCwmxrP8OrjXcpkL2yls7aqjJ4pttXvdBe8r0lyPhIWANj-Ldmyj82t9wdU5C_6YVANMvX3F5IkeHtWL0LqBw$>

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1296207422000322?via%3Dihub<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1296207422000322?via*3Dihub__;JQ!!DZ3fjg!9WCwmxrP8OrjXcpkL2yls7aqjJ4pttXvdBe8r0lyPhIWANj-Ldmyj82t9wdU5C_6YVANMvX3F5IkeHu-tLp_Cw$>

Best wishes

Nikolaj

--------------------------

Nikolaj Scharff, PhD

Professor, Curator of Arachnida,

Archives and Libraries

<image001.png>

Natural History Museum Denmark

University of Copenhagen

Zoology Section

Universitetsparken 15

DK-2100 Copenhagen

Email: nscharff at snm.ku.dk<mailto:nscharff at snm.ku.dk>

Phone: +45 42408088

www.snm.dk<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.snm.dk/__;!!DZ3fjg!9WCwmxrP8OrjXcpkL2yls7aqjJ4pttXvdBe8r0lyPhIWANj-Ldmyj82t9wdU5C_6YVANMvX3F5IkeHsS61_VOg$>

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Gali Beiner
Sent: 7. maj 2025 08:06
To: NHCOLL-new <Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Mold curiosity

Dear All,

I noticed this little popular press article on mold that thrives in RH ca. 55%:

Denmark’s museum objects at risk from ‘extreme’ new mould, say conservators | Denmark | The Guardian<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/06/denmarks-museum-objects-at-risk-from-extreme-new-mould-say-conservators__;!!DZ3fjg!9WCwmxrP8OrjXcpkL2yls7aqjJ4pttXvdBe8r0lyPhIWANj-Ldmyj82t9wdU5C_6YVANMvX3F5IkeHvJ7l71FA$>

Has anyone noticed this happening in natural history collections? There are, of course, many types of mold - we dealt with some in our bird collections - but generally lowering the RH (to taxidermy-appropriate levels) appears to help. However, it would be good to know what other professionals see in "their" collections in terms of molds working in lowered RH conditions.

Gali

--

[Image removed by sender.]Gali Beiner (ACR)

Conservator, Palaeontology Lab

National Natural History Collections

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Fax. 972-2-6585785
gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il<mailto:gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>

https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en__;!!DZ3fjg!9WCwmxrP8OrjXcpkL2yls7aqjJ4pttXvdBe8r0lyPhIWANj-Ldmyj82t9wdU5C_6YVANMvX3F5IkeHtVkHBk3Q$>

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