Hi everyone! I have read a lot of the previously published articles and threads on humidity with collections but was looking for some personalized advice. I live in Michigan where it gets fairly humid and I really only have two spots to store my growing collection of old TSR books/modules and dragon magazines. Spot 1 is my basement where my collection was recently moved to. It’s a fully finished basement that has never had moisture issues but everything I read recently said that’s a bad idea. I opened a bagged and boarded copy of dragon #82 and it had a little bit of ink smudging on the board which I’m to understand is due to humidity. This has gotten me a bit concerned about the viability of the basement and was wondering if a dehumidifier would fix this or should I move them back to spot #2 which is my office.

The issue with my office is that it is attached to our three season room and due to our cat that door is opened or cracked a lot and that room has felt a little humid in the past and I figured having my collection legit next to that door full of humid air was possibly worse then the basement.

Anyone have any thoughts of which location would be better or if a dehumidifier is an easy fix? Open to all ideas, haven’t been collecting that long but didn’t want to inadvertently be causing easily preventable damage.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hello there,

That's a great question and topic to bring up.

Living in Hong Kong, I can tell you that I pretty much run two dehumidifiers 24/7 not just for my collection but my sanity.

I'm not sure if they also have these in the USA, but in Hong Kong we can also buy Dehumidifier Packs to draw out moisture.

The only other place worse for humidity out here in Asia in my opinion would be Singapore (I'd hate to have my collection there).

Ronald