BibliophileBullpen

Dear Bibliobull -

In addition to archiving personal letters, I am also attempting to archive full sheets of newspaper clippings. I don’t wish to fold these and place them in an archival bag, especially as they are fragile and will eventually crumble when unfolded. They are, however, rather large, and were folded at some period in the past before I acquired them.

What is the best way to store these nifty, but awkward nuggets of information?

Clip Filed

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Dear Clippy -

Newsprint is the cheapest paper possible; unlike other papers, when it is milled the lignin is not removed from the pulp. It is the lignin that causes the paper to rapidly become brittle and yellow when exposed to air and/or sunlight. So, what you are holding is rapidly aging WHILE you are looking at it.

Ideally you want to deacidify it, and then store it sandwiched between acid free paper in an acid free box, in a deep dark acid free hole and never open the box again. This is fine if you are keeping it for research and you have already scanned it into a computer, but for booksellers and collectors this takes all the fun out of life.

Deacidify it. If you do anything else, you are wasting all your time and effort because the object is STILL breaking down. There are several commercial deacidifiers on the market some are findable off the shelf in scrap booking stores, they are basically 2 chemical compounds, I have mentioned them before. Buy them. use them.

Reinforce it. Because it is already fragile and probably folded, you need to put it on a ph neutral backing board. All of the archival suppliers sell forms of this, figure out how much you need and how much you want to spend. You may even be able to get away with the kind of backing boards used for comic books.
• Bagsunlimited.com sells small quanities of various forms of archival and acidfree backing boards.
• University Products sells all sorts and shapes of archival boxes, and folders.

Protect it. If you need this item to be seen by potential buyers, you need to put it some form of plastic. Polyethylene, polypropylene or polyester (mylar) polybags come in an unbelievable range of sizes; up to and including POSTER size. As long as they have been OK’d for long term storage and you are getting it from a reputable seller, you don’t really have to worry.

Hide it. Once you have the item secured to a backboard, and then enrobed in a polybag, you really shouldn’t leave it out in the light. Of anywhere a corner can get bent or dinged or just wrecked, because the item is too big.

You can make or buy an art portfolio. There are some ridiculously cheap ones designed for art students; 17″ x 22″ plastic/zippered cases for under $20. There is NO reason not to have something like this around to secure for objects for sale that are larger than 8″x 11″. Personally I put things into it and shove it safely behind the desk, against the wall, where stuff won’t get wrecked.

All of the above goes double and triple for holograph items, manuscripts and textiles. When in doubt deacidify it, you aren’t gonna hurt it, if it doesn’t need it. Buy you do want to support fragile items YET keep them available for examination.

Biblio Bull-

Dear Bibliobull -

I am starting and hoping to collect letters worthy of archiving as part of Western Americana culture. These obviously do not need a home in an old shoe box. What is the best way to preserve these little gems for future generations? Keep in mind, I want to be able to view or study the contents of these ephemera, so lock boxes are out of the question.

Playing Postoffice

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Dear Postal -

If they are very valuable, they can be stored in archival quality acid free containers. University Products are one of the best catalogs for these materials.

Personally I think that’s boring. Especially if you are trying to sell such things and aren’t actually a conservator handling them with white cotton gloves.

If they are in danger of deteriorating from acid then you may want to spray them with a buffering agent. These are basically suspended forms of calcium carbonate or magnesium oxide which neutralizes the acid in the paper. The acid is what makes things go brittle and brown. Papersaver is relatively inexpensive and now if you look in the scrap book stores Krylon makes one. Bookeeper is a higher end version.

Once they are stabilized, if they are fragile put them in a soft plastic sleeve. Comic stores are great for these as they sell non reactive clear plastic bags. Then you can store them in acrylic toploaders. These are a hard plastic holder, which allows you and customers to SEE the item without touching it. Bagging fragile items in a soft sleeve first, allows you to remove it from the top-loader without tearing it.

If you are going to use these items for reference work, you should scan them BEFORE you store them. Scan them at a high enough resolution that you can read them without taking them out of storage. Then you can transcribe them from the screen when you need them. If you need to take another lower resolution image for a customer you can always do it through the holder.

Biblio Bull-

Acidic paper items deteriorate over time. In a perfect world all books would be made of alkaline paper which lasts ten times longer than the customary acidic paper, which crumbles after about 40 years. Permanent paper such as those sized with a buffering agent like calcium carbonate has a life expectancy of at least 500 years or more. But alas no perfect world for us.

The wood pulp fibers in commercially produced papers since 1850s are an unstable component that cause an acidic reaction. Many papers produced in the last century were made with an alum rosin, which is acidic. Acidic paper loses its strength, becomes brittle and is unable to support itself. Materials with a pH of 7.0 or higher are considered acid-free. Acid-free materials can be either buffered or unbuffered. Buffering agents like magnesium oxide or calcium carbonate typically raise the pH of a material to 8.0 or higher. A good rule of thumb is to assume all paper items are acidic unless it is clearly labeled or you have tested it.

PH testing can be done with a pen, a marker similar to the ones they use to test money.
• Lineco pH Testing Pen – With a simple swipe you can distinguish between safe (neutral or alkaline) paper and board and acidic materials. Simply draw a small line on the material you wish to test. The chlorophenol red indicator solution in the pen will turn purple on any paper with a pH of 6.8 and above. A clear or yellow color indicates the material is probably unsuitable for conservation purposes. Paper can be respectably long lived if is pH is as low as 6.0, especially if is well made and carefully used and stored. In order to last for centuries in today’s polluted air, it must have an alkaline reserve and this usually means a pH of 7.0 or greater. Unfortunately the mark from this pen does not fade entirely. If anyone knows of one that DOES fade, please let me know.

There are deacidification sprays on the market for consumer use like • Bookkeeper® Deacidification Spray (magnesium oxide) and • Krylon Make it Acid-Free Spray (calcium carbonate). The aerosol carrier evaporates quickly leaving behind a layer of the buffering agent which reacts with the moisture in the atmosphere to create the deacidificant. I have read the exact chemistry that occurs several times and I can’t simplify it any more than that. Let’s just call it magic.

It would probably be best to scan or photograph the item BEFORE spraying, as there is a powdery residue.

for further reading :
• from The American Institute for Conservation – Observations on the Use of Bookkeeper® Deacidification Spray for the Treatment of Individual Objects

• from Conservation Online – professional articles on mass deacidification

*apologies to Tom Wolfe

see? who needs that nasty old job anyway?