Howdy pards.

This last weekend I had the opportunity to talk to several guys about some of the archival material they have in their possession. I stressed the importance of protecting those valuable items by using archival quality, acid free containers. This is the single most important thing you can do to ensure the life of these items. Proper storage guards against the biggest killers of paper products: UV light, dust, human contact, and improper support. I don’t want to preach too much, sorry. Anyway, for those interested in where to buy these items I’ve got a short list below.

The items you’ll need for proper storage aren’t cheap but the pieces some of you have in your personal collections are irreplaceable. Ask yourselves if you think Don Troiani just tosses his artifacts any-ol’-where.


Gaylord Brothers: http://www.gaylordmart.com/archivalsolutions.asp?

Metal Edge archival storage: http://www.metaledgeinc.com/

Light Impressions archival supplies: http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/

University Products: http://www.universityproducts.com/main2.html

Mel,

Very interesting. Do you happen to have any links that discribe how to go about protecting artifacts?

Thanks,

Mel, you will be interested (or perhaps chagrinned) to know the William Faulkner home, Rowan Oak, in Oxford, MS, lost a considerable amount of paper, fabric, and leather items because they did not do as you recommend.  

Mel, that's simply outstanding.

I can well remember the hundreds of thousands of 35mm color slides lost in the mid-1970s due to a bad reaction between the poly-sleeves and the Koda- and Ecktachrome finished product. Thankfully, that situation only lasted about 18 months.

I'm sorry Bill, but I don't know of any links off the top of my head, but the process is simple enough.

A preliminary caution: Take your time! Turn pages gently, don't fold 'em or tear them. Your job is to protect this stuff! Careless handling/storage are the number one cause of deterioration of books and paper.

-First, and this is damned important, wash your hands thoroughly. This gets rid of excess oils and dirt. Some archivists say you should always wear light cotton gloves, but it seems to me that washing gets rid of the grime while allowing you to keep better dexterity. Do not use any sort of handcream or Quicksort(tm) (what I call pink spit, like tellers use to sort cash).

-Next, you want to carefully remove ANY foreign items that will not help describe context (what the artifact itself went through): rubber bands, paperclips, staples, etc. These will all stain or deform your material in one way or another. Old tape is best just left in place since trying to peel it off might tear the paper or just expose a bunch of gooey glue.

-Gently unfold improperly creased pages and dog-ears.

-Sometimes it is a good idea to wrap a book in pH neutral cotton tape to help hold it together. Tie it snuggly, but not tightly, with an easily removed slip knot of some sort. This should only be done if there is major damage like the binding falling off.

-If the item is extremely valuable, some conservators will interleaf the pages with pH neutral paper to help counteract the acid that naturally occurs in paper.

-Using a proper sized, acid-free container or box, gently lay the book or papers flat within it, close the lid securely, and write on the outside in pencil the contents. (Books and paper stored upright have a tendency to deform and collaps on themselves).

-Store the box away from extreme heat and humidity sources. An attic is a bad place to store your valuable paper products since it'll get really hot in the summer and pretty cold in the winter. Likewise, basements are not good if they tend to get too humid in the summer. A nice, stable climate is best, without rapid cycling of temp or RH (relative humidity).

It's all pretty simple and straightforward really. I hope it helps.

Curtis and Charles

Yeah, I hear about this stuff being destroyed all the time and it's a terrible shame. The Faulkner people should have known better. Preserving paper products is really quite simple, but trying to protect photos is another beast entirely. They all have slightly different chemical makeups that react negatively to themselves, their environment, their storage material, or just the temperature. I really hate to admit how little I know about photo preservation but some things, like certain glass prints, just cannot be saved only reproduced so that at least we have some sort of record. The nice thing is that more and more archives are putting their collections online and you can attain an e-copy for pretty cheap. If you want a hard copy, usually all you have to do is tell 'em which one you want and they can whip something up for you. My archive has the vast majority of all the Wright Brothers photos and believe me, I'm going to get a couple prints made up before I graduate.