Preserving paper - more information

          Photographs can be preserved by keeping them in cool, dry place out of light. Don’t forget to label them appropriately.  Now what about paper? How do you keep your important papers whether they are personal papers or those in an archive? Well, what matters most is the type of paper that you have.  If you are a big newspaper clipper, expect anything you save made of newsprint will turn yellow and brittle in a pretty short amount of time. Why?  Well newsprint is an example of cheaply made paper made from wood pulp. Wood has lignin, which is an acid.  It is this acid in newsprint that causes the deterioration.  On the other end of the spectrum is bond paper.  Bond paper is made from cotton rags, which do not have acid.  They will last 100 years if kept out of the sun and in a cool and dry place next to other non-acidic papers.  That's why colleges have historically demanded that masters theses and dissertations be printed on bond paper because they want the material to last as long as possible.  Other materials like archival non-acidic file folders or other non-acidic products have had the acid (lignin usually removed) to extend their shelf life.  They can help reduce the migration of acid from acidic paper to non-acidic material.  Did I mention that acid will move from one piece of paper and chemically alter material next to it? Test this by putting a news clipping on a piece of paper and leave it in direct sunlight for several weeks.  When you lift the news clipping a brownish stain (acid) will be left on the paper underneath.

            So what can you do to preserve your material?  Not much if it is newsprint.  Archives microfilm their newspapers.  Microfilm is stable and will last for about 100 years.  The other recourse is to copy the article onto bond paper and throw the clipping away.  If you must save the clipping use acid free paper or other archival material between the clipping and other papers.  The clipping will still deteriorate but you will protect the surrounding papers at least a little. The other way to protect paper is to reduce human handling.  Some archives require white clean gloves be used when handling paper. I find I do more harm than good with gloves. Do wash your hands. No drinks or food around paper material you want to preserve.  No rubber bands to bundle paper together.  Rubber bands deteriorate, turn black and may stick permanently to the paper.  Metal paper clips and staples will rust over time if there is moisture in the air.  Use plastic paper clips.  You can keep paper together by folding a blank piece around the group you were going to staple.  Or go ahead and staple if you must just know that it may rust over time.  Other considerations – Store paper in archival boxes  or in metal filing cabinets.  Never store paper products in wooden containers – acidic, remember? Archives use special non-acidic shelving for their collections.  Coating on that shelving does matter.  Baked coating is recommended.  For archives that have wooden shelving and can’t afford to replace it, a cheap reasonably effective solution is to line the shelves with archival board (a non-acidic cardboard only available from archival supply houses).

            The newest solution to preservation is, of course, digitization.  It works, but we’re just not sure for how long.  I have files in Excel, for instance, that can only be read using old Excel software.  The newer versions don’t support the older ones. You must keep upgrading your files to stay current and I wasn't quick enough. (Of course, there are "how to upgrade" these files on line. I should do that but haven't.)  For now saving as pdfs or in Word are the best options for long-term usefulness.  For photographs JPEG and TIFF have stayed readable so far. 

For more information on paper preservation see:

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/publications/conserveogram/19-15.pdf - Great resource!

Information on archival shelving

http://www.archives.gov/foia/directives/nara1571.pdf   “Use a powder-coating system to paint all painted metal shelving surfaces (including map cases, museum cabinets, etc.) used within all records areas. The powder-coating polymer must be a polyester epoxy hybrid or best equivalent available that passes NWT- conducted or independent lab tests for hardness, coating stability, bending, coating adhesion, and coating durability. The paint must not exceed the off-gassing limits specified in Appendix B. Do not apply powder coating to the metal surfaces onsite in the storage area.”