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45s Are Fun!

Thursday, August 21, 2008 After working on the LPs and 78s, the 45s are a breeze. First, there are only three boxes–about 300 to clean. Second, they are small and cute and easy to handle. They are not brittle, like the 78s. They have few labels running, unlike all the Supraphon from the LPs. TheContinue reading “45s Are Fun!”

Getting Grosser

Thursday, August 14, 2008 These are some of the last boxes of records we had to go through. They had dried out which made it much harder to separate them. Many of the records had also warped since there was so much space in the boxes they expanded. The boxes we had been working onContinue reading “Getting Grosser”

Mold on 78s

Friday, August 6, 2008 When we washed all of the records, we didn’t only have to worry about the flood goo but also the mold that thrives in damp, warm conditions. The mold can be very harmful if it is inhaled. Because of this, we have to wear respirators and latex gloves at all times toContinue reading “Mold on 78s”

Cleaning 78s

Thursday, July 31 Cleaning the 78’s from the Czech Slovak record collection has been our longest project so far. Just the cursory cleaning we did out at the Oakdale paper facility took two months. We used two water baths, one with photo flo, a mild soap; and one with clean water to rinse. We thenContinue reading “Cleaning 78s”

David Muhlena Visits

Monday, July 28, 2008  One of the benefits of having a local institution like the University of Iowa help with flood recovery is the access we have to the curators of the museums. If these museums had to send their collections to one of the regional centers they would be much less involved in theContinue reading “David Muhlena Visits”

Czech LPs Debut

Thursday, July 24, 2008  The highlight of the day was listening to three Czech LPs that we had salvaged. The covers are wrinkled, tattered, stained, and still have a distinct odor about them. The records have a slight “scent” to them, too, probably from the paper label. CR Gazette Reporter, Alicia Ebaugh , made aContinue reading “Czech LPs Debut”

How to Restore LPs, DVDs, CDs Video Debuts

Wednesday, July 23, 2008  The Gazette was really fast in getting this video posted. It looks pretty good. Bill Voss and Elizabeth Stone did a great job demonstrating how to clean the discs. http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/NEWS/695592191/1002/NEWS We continue to make progress on flood recovery efforts. Bryan Stusse has about 1/2 of the Czech LPs inventory completed. Kristin hasContinue reading “How to Restore LPs, DVDs, CDs Video Debuts”

Containing Smells

Monday, July 21, 2008 We think we’ve finally figured out how to contain the smells while cleaning the Czech/Slovak records. The solution turned out to be rather simple. We set the thermostat to continuous air and added a charcoal filter to the airconditioner. Of course, you can still get a “whiff” as you enter the cleaningContinue reading “Containing Smells”