Integrated Pest Management for Cultural Heritage

Food and drink policies are essential tools for supporting your IPM program. These not only apply to staff, but also to your visitors. Deciding where and when food and drinks can be consumed will help mitigate pest issues.

• Beyond “No food and drink in the gallery”: Writing a best practices document for food management in museums, published in the Fall 2016 issue of Collection Forum, discusses the three-step process used to create a best practices document for food management in collection-holding institutions.
• The Food & Drink Policy Guidelines for Yale University Library Staff may be viewed online.
• Food in the Museum Policy is a short document, written in 2004 for staff at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), to detail where food is allowed in NMAI’s Mall Museum and under what circumstances.
• NMAI’s school’s guide (see bottom of pages 3 and 4), distributed to school groups that have made a reservation to visit the NMAI includes a section which highlights the rules that are in place to ‘make sure the entire collection is safe and remains undamaged’. This section, while informational, also acts to educate visitors about collection care techniques, including IPM. Rules are further specified on the ‘Planning Your Visit’ page which details lunch and chaperone regulations.

What can you do to prevent infestations? is a bilingual (English and French) memo developed by the Canadian Museum of Nature that outlines five points for staff to follow in efforts to keep spaces free from food that may serve as a pest attractant. The memo was originally distributed to staff along with pest proof containers for use in their cubicles.

Good housekeeping in both public and nonpublic spaces should be an integral part of any IPM strategy.  Many of the insects which pose the greatest risks to collections are able to survive and breed on minute quantities of organic material.  

The average visitor to a museum or library drops the equivalent of three hairs and one fingernail per visit.  When you add food crumbs from catered functions and cafeterias, it becomes evident that without vigilant housekeeping, a sufficient amount of debris can easily accumulate in public spaces to support breeding populations. Once established, pest populations can more easily move on to collections storage spaces and other relatively fortified nonpublic spaces.  

Behind the scenes, dust and debris often accumulate above and below cabinetry; in infrequently visited corners and corridors of storerooms; and especially within dead spaces below floorboards, compact storage ranges, and display cases. These enclosed spaces are often difficult if not impossible to clean regularly, and therefore treatment with a desiccant dust may be an appropriate long term strategy.

• The MPWG has created a template for creating your own procedures document for institutional housekeeping procedures.
• Learn how the Natural History Museum in London dealt with an inaccessible display case, “No Way In: Addressing a Display-Case Access Problem.”

Read about experiments conducted at The Mariner’s Museum demonstrating the preference of immature silverfish for human hairs, and mature silverfish for common archival supplies and cardboard containers, “Preferences at the Silverfish Buffet.”

Carpets can be, at worst, a source of food, or at best, a place for pests to hide.  Whenever possible reduce the use of carpet or carpet tiles in collection spaces. In historic homes, where rugs are an important part of the furnishings, a solid and light colored foam rug pad is recommended. The pad serves to separate the rug from wooden floor boards that can act as “runways” for pests.  They also increase the likelihood that signs of an infestation such as larval casings or frass may be seen during routine housekeeping or regular inspections.

Historic furnishings are also highly susceptible to infestation, especially pieces stuffed with horsehair.  Puckering or deformation of upholstery may be a sign of infestation. Frass, seen as powder or flour-like detritus, around or under furniture should be investigated immediately. Reproduction fabrics should be carefully selected to avoid pests.

Whether you are introducing fresh or dried plants or flowers into the building for a special event, exhibit, into galleries or interior landscapes, there is a risk of introducing pests, and providing a food source. Risk factors vary depending on the type of plant, the potting medium, and the vessel. Pollen can act as an attractant, and moist soil and dead foliage can become a habitat. For long term installations and office plants, over-watering of plants and poor maintenance also poses a risk. 

If your organization is considering introducing plants or cut flowers, first see if it is possible to avoid vases with standing water. Use dry foam floral bricks. If you have incoming potted plants with soil, try and have the plants delivered at least two weeks prior to displaying them. Quarantine the plants and monitor for pest activity in the soil and throughout the flowers and foliage

Check out MPWG’s template for creating your own procedures document for Control of Food and Live Plants as well as MPWG’s guide, Plants and Cut Flowers in Museum and Historic Settings, for mitigating risk of using flowers, plants, and botanicals in museums and historic house settings.

Scavenged wood, driftwood, and bamboo may contain pests and are therefore high risk materials which could introduce pests. Preventive measures that you would usually use to treat wood in your collections should also be taken to avoid infestation and problems.

Whether for use in dioramas or for artistic purposes, cultural heritage institutions may need to incorporate soil, sand and/or dirt into the building and collections holding areas.

Soil and dirt ideally should be dry throughout unless it is part of a “living” display. Soil should not harbor or attract cultural heritage pests as long as it remains dry. If an installation requires the material to be wet, the material should first be treated and then rehydrated.

Acquiring clean, washed sand from a retailer (and ensuring it is dry throughout) is ideal and should not harbor pests or create issues as long as it remains dry. If an installation requires the sand to be wet, it should first be treated and then rehydrated.

Heat Treatment, Low Temperature and Fumigation and Anoxia are solutions for soil, dirt and sand. Get more information on Solutions.

In general, freezing is considered so safe that some institutions freeze collections ‘preventively’ to ensure that there is no infestation. Examples of when this might be appropriate include:

• Moving collections into a new space or facility from one that was known or suspected to have been infested.
• Processing new acquisitions, incoming loan material or reintegrating collections that have returned from loan into collections storage.
• Bulk collections of material that cannot be individually inspected.

Additional information as well as a case study from National Museum of the American Indian can be found in Low Temperature Treatment under Solutions.