Tips on the Care of Your
Books, Papers, & Photos

With careful handling, you can do a great deal to inhibit the process of deterioration and prolong the life of paper documents. The breakdown of paper and ways to prevent it can be understood if we outline the history of paper and how it was made. Sixteenth-century paper is stronger and more flexible than twentieth-century paper. Compare a book published in 1591 with a volume published in 1900. The pages of the earlier imprint turn easily and are creamy white and soft; the pages of the later volume are brown and snap easily if you fold them at the corners. A heavily-used volume will be crumbling at the gutter (center) and falling apart.

Early manufacturers made paper from a pulp of linen or cotton rags that they bleached and then pounded either by hand or simple machinery into a slurry of long, strong fibers and water. They dried the slurry on frames and then sized it, often by hand, with alkaline materials to prevent inks from feathering.

As the popularity of the printing press grew, the demand for paper increased. Soon rags were in short supply. Manufacturers replaced the rags with more plentiful, but acidic, ground wood pulp and looked for cheaper and faster ways to make their product.

By the nineteenth century, more efficient machinery was pounding the slurry into shorter, weaker fibers. Cheaper, but potentially acidic, alum rosin had replaced the old sizing materials. After 1850, paper was plentiful and inexpensive. It was also weaker and highly acidic with its shorter fibers, high wood content, and alum rosin sizing.

Paper with acid breakdown is brown and brittle and will eventually crumble. If, however, the acid content of the paper is neutralized, the paper can be saved.

Staff of the Conservation Laboratory at the Archives spend most of their time neutralizing the effects of acid deterioration. Their training, experience, and the equipment they use enable them to extend the life of a document for many, many years.

Rules to Follow

You, too, can prolong the life of your documents by following some fundamental rules when you handle papers, books, or photographs:

1. Do not repair your documents with scotch tape or glue. Most glues and all pressure-sensitive tapes are highly acidic--that's why brown stains eventually develop on documents where tape has been applied.
2. Store your documents flat when you can, but do not flatten tightly-curled documents with force. If you do, the fibers will break, weakening the paper. Let a trained technician open the document for you.
3. Keep your documents away from sunlight or fluorescent light--the darker your storage area the better. All visible light will eventually damage your documents; ultraviolet light will destroy them.
4. Do not wrap your documents with a rubber band. Over time, rubber will harden and bond to the paper. Removing a hardened rubber band can damage paper, and the rubber will usually leave a stain.
5. Do not use paper clips, straight pins, staples, or other metal objects to bind documents together. Metal objects will eventually rust and destroy the documents you join this way.
6. Do not use wooden or ordinary cardboard boxes to store your valuable photographs and documents--containers like these are highly acidic, and the acid will migrate from the box to your documents. Store these valuables in metal containers or acid-neutral boxes.
7. Do not store your treasured photographs in the commercially-available scrapbooks that use plastic cover pages and adhesive-stripped backboards. They are deadly. So, too, are the old scrapbooks made with black construction paper. You can obtain archivally-sound storage for your photographs from certain suppliers. Contact the Archives for advice.
8. Do not store your glass-based photographic materials flat, stacked, or in cardboard or wooden boxes. These glass-based materials require the specially designed vertical storage systems that are sold by vendors of conservation supplies.
9. Never open a daguerreotype or ambrotype to clean it. If you do, you will upset the balance of gases inside the seal and the image will deteriorate rapidly.
10. The readily-available plastic storage sheets for negatives and slides are usually unstable. They will decompose within a few years, and when they do, the emulsion that forms the image will be destroyed. Contact the Archives if you wish to know how to obtain suitable storage containers.
11. Environmental control is the cornerstone of preservation. Without it, your documents will perish, no matter how carefully you handle them. Store your documents in archival containers to stabilize their immediate surroundings and, if possible, place the containers in an environment where the air circulates freely and the temperature and humidity is stabilized--preferably at 70 degrees and at 50 percent relative humidity. Neither attics nor basements are stable storage areas.