Just in time for the Washington, D.C. area’s first cold snap of 2015, museum staff have&nb

Just in time for the Washington, D.C. area’s first cold snap of 2015, museum staff have turned on the walk-through freezer at the conservation and collections resource center for an inaugural object freezing!

Here Chief Conservator Esther Méthé and Associate Registrar Tessa Lummis wheel in sixty-three objects that are part of a travelling exhibition, and therefore were not frozen as part of the collections move.

Freezing textiles at a temperature of -30 degrees Celsius or below is an important element of the museum’s integrated pest management protocol. After a week of freezing, these objects will be brought to room temperature before they are unwrapped, inspected, and put away in storage.