Cold storage has been adopted from the commercial fur storage industry by museums to control insects and microbial pests in fur garment and mammal skin collections. A pilot experiment was conducted to determine the effects of cold storage and chill-thaw cycles on these collections. The results showed that as the skin samples were cycled in and out refrigerated conditions, they exhibited a loss of moisture regain and possibly a loss of hysteresis over time. The apparent loss of hysteresis may have been caused by the migration of salts out of the interfibular areas of the skins. It is recommended that cold storage temperatures be raised to within 10 degrees C. of room temperature, and that fur garments and skins be bagged and acclimated to room temperature when taken in and out of cold storage.