[Melissa Kneeland]

We have about 70 Metal Regina Music Box discs in our collection, some of which have white, almost mold looking growth on them. I want to clean them but don’t know what will be best. Any suggestions? I can add a picture if necessary.

[Elizabeth La Duc]

Hi, Melissa,
Thank you for your question. It would be great if you can send a picture. Based on your description, it seems likely that the white substance on the surface is not mold, but metal corrosion products. Metal corrosion is caused by storage in environments with high humidity and in acidic conditions, such as cardboard boxes. At the moment, I suggest you rehouse the discs in an archival box, with silica gel to remove moisture. As always, handle the discs with gloves, preferably nitrile or latex, not cotton.
I’ll do some more research and get back to you.
Elizabeth

[Melissa Kneeland]

Here is a close up of the damage, it does look like corrosion, after looking closely.

[Melissa Kneeland]

I will make the photo a smaller size!

[Tammy Zavinski]

Hi Melissa,

I thought while Elizabeth is researching your question, you might find these articles helpful. This listing was compiled by the National Preservation Program Office, Library of Congress.

McWilliams, Jerry. The Preservation and Restoration of Sound Recordings. Nashville: The American Association for State and Local History, 1979

Lechleitner, Franz. “The Construction of Cylinder Replay Machines” in Archiving the Audio-Visual Heritage, Berlin: FIAF, 1988.

Gibson, Gerald. “Decay and Degradation of Disc and Cylinder Recordings in Storage”, in Audio Preservation: a planning study. Silver Spring, Maryland: Association for Recorded Sound Collections, 1987.

Frow, George L. and Albert F. Sefl. The Edison cylinder phonographs. Sevenoaks, Kent, England: George L. Frow, 1978.

Tammy Zavinski

[Author]

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