… And Why It Is Essential
Ever wonder how vulnerable everything is you are keeping in your garage, attic or basement?
These are the threats to worry about:
- Temperature: extreme heat or cold
- Light
- Moisture/Humidity/Mold
- Flooding – storms or leaking pipes
- Pests that consider paper and fabrics a feast
- Rodents
- Breakage – Kids, Pets, Misuse
- Contaminants – chemicals, paints, insecticides
- Off-gassing – wait, WHAT?
I figure you all know the threats and damage from Items 1-8. Those all make sense, right?
EXTREME TEMPERATURES can make furniture, picture frames stretch and shrink.
LIGHT from an uncovered window can cause fading in photos, painting and fabrics.
MOISTURE can outright destroy everything and mold is an equally ominous threat.
FLOODING destroys all and not much you can do to salvage anything that’s been underwater.
PESTS such as beetles and termites will slowly eat and munch away paper and wood.
RODENTS like mice, squirrels, opossums and raccoons have been known to nest in cozy, dark spaces indoors especially if there is an abundance of paper or stacks of boxes for them to nest in.
BREAKAGE occurs when things are not handled or packed properly. Anything worth keeping is worth treating well. Think about for a moment and then go visit your garage, attic or basement and take a look at your china/collectibles/breakables.
CONTAMINANTS hurt everything, including us. So limit storing any chemicals indoors if you can.
So OFF GASING probably made you pause, right?
Essentially, things like plastic, glue, processed wood products like pressboard and inexpensive furniture, shelf lining paper, most paper, newspapers, interior of old steam trunks, film negatives – all of those things emit various levels of chemical gas that rots and eats away at the things you want to keep and protect. Such as documents, photos, letters, etc.
That’s why it is so important to DECLUTTER and SORT through the stuff you are storing.
Separate the good stuff, the things you want to KEEP, and protect them in plastic bins—but make sure they are cloudy clear. Not colored. Not crystal see through, but cloudy see-through. These emit the least amount of gas and will NOT further damage your goodies.
You’ll find some examples of good bins and more archival (acid-free) boxes on my resource page here
We want to save things without damaging the character or essence of what they are. So, take the time now to remove photos from those old magnetic plastic-sheet albums. Those sheets are destroying your images. You would be better served placing those photos in an acid-free photo box.
Also, some of you may be thinking –hmmm— I’ll just place everything carefully in granny’s old steamer trunk. NO! Lots of off-gassing in that old trunk. Same is true for cedar chests – all that wood emits gas destructive to paper and photos.
So, take small steps now to protect what matters. Time will eventually reduce everything to remnants. But if you are KEEPING these items, makes sense to PROTECT them from further decay, right?
You can learn more about this topic here. There is a lot more to cover, like deciding what to keep – a very big component in this practice.
Until next time, Fellow Archivists!
What is your biggest archiving challenge?
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