> Can you help me find information on the construction of an
environmentally
> controlled room within another structure
>
> John,
> Try the Canadian Conservation Institute at www.cci-icc.gc.ca and click on
> "conservation information" to search for documents on-line.  "climate
> control" brings up a few, especially mention of a 1998 paper
"Environmental
> Guidelines for Canadian Archives" dealing with collections housed in
> historic buildings.
>
> "Display Materials: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is a good overview of
> material interactions.  "Relative Humidity and Temperature Guidelines:
> What's Happening"
> by Stefan Michalski, Manager, Preventive Conservation Services deals with
> current views of the topic.
>
> Acidity as it effects artefacts is an aspect of this topic often
overlooked
> by traditional climate control folks.   Acid glues in modern wood products
> are a problem but can be overcome by sealing the surfaces appropriately.
>
> However, it is often said that more damage is done to artefacts by the
> people that handle them than by any room condition.   Ergonomic
> considerations will probably mean more in the end than fancy climate
> controls.
>
> We recently hired a CCI expert for a consultation about artefact and
archive
> storage.   It appears that today there are not a lot of specific do and
> don't standards like in the old days, rather, a good look at the nature of
> the items actually being dealt with and then applying a large degree of
> common sense and a little chemistry.   CCI likes to keep it simple.   They
> suggested that the relative importance of the collection to be protected
had
> more to do with the choices to be made about how far to go with "controls"
> than the familiar notion of "industry standards" that came out of the
1970's
> and 1980's.
>
> cp in bc
>
>