TAR: Archival storage information

[Kimberly Brosan <kim@BIGBADWOLF.ORG>]

Hello,

My mother has been going through a box filled with family documents,
pictures, handsewn shirts, letters, books, etc. and is curious about what to
do to best preserve them. The items are quite old--one letter is from 1806.

The librarian at Gettysburg Seminary where she shared some of the documents
and gathered some additional information told her that she should get
acid-free envelopes and store one document per envelope.

She lives in Williamsport, PA, so I suggested she go to Brodart and see what
they had available. The catalog description for their acid-free envelopes
said she could store multiple documents in each envelope. Since this
conflicts with what she was told elsewhere, she asked me which was right. I
really don't know the answer, but was hoping that someone here could help me
(and her) out.

These are the questions she wanted me to check on:

1. What is the best way to store these items?
2. Can she store more than one item per envelope?
3. Is "acid-free tape" also non-yellowing?
4. Is an album she bought at the local craft store that has acid free pages
and plastic (of some sort) cover sheets a safe and acceptable means to store
these things? Or should she do something else? (If so, what?)
5. What kind of container should she put all of these smaller items into
once she's done? A metal box? A cedar chest? Storage boxes sold by Brodart?
Some different suggestion?

If there's anything else you can think of that I haven't asked but she'd
need to know, we'll gladly take those suggestions as well.

If you know of some better source for information, I'll gladly take those
referrals too!

Thank you so much!

Kim
Kimberly A. Brosan, Librarian
Mid-Carolina High School, SC
kim@bigbadwolf.org <mailto:kim@bigbadwolf.org>

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