Preservation Basics by Robin Tait

Community Heritage Grants 2013
Preservation Basics

Community Heritage Grants 2013 Preservation Basics

Robin Tait

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Preservation Basics
presented by

Robin Tait
Preservation Section

Preservation Basics
• Incoming Collections
• Storage Preparation of paper based
collections
• Housing and protection
• Collection storage areas


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Incoming collections
• Separate area to work on collections away from the main
collection storage areas. If space does not permit this then
have a clean isolated work bench for this collection
material alone.
• Inspect collection for generally hazardous materials i.e.
chemicals, sharps, ignition sources, etc. These items need
to be stored in an appropriate area but maintain their links
with the collection material by e.g. catalogue links.
• Inspect collection for general collection degrading agents
such as wet or mouldy material, insects, dust and acidic
housing materials.

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• Inspect collection for the following; selfadhesive tape/s, rubber bands, paper clips
and staples, post-it notes, acidic or browning
and brittle card, paper and tissue.
This inspection should give a good indication
of the task ahead, including amount of storage
required, types of housing, people required to
assist and storage materials required.

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Mould

Brittle paper


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Insect damage
Insect damage and dust


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In summary
• Inspection and examination of collections for
hazards, agents of deterioration and
assessment of requirements/resources for the
next step – Storage Preparation.


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Storage Preparation
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•
•
•

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The desirable outcome for storage preparation is that clean, stable, pest-free material goes into
the storage area.
Wear gloves – can be cotton, vinyl or nitrile, both to protect yourself and also the materials you are
handling from the acids and oils in your skin.
Removal of hazardous substances and materials e.g. matches, knives, blades, chemicals to
appropriate documented storage.
Removal by appropriate means of inactive mould, dust, insects and other pests. Moulds need to be
removed taking care not to spread the spores/hyphae. The best approach is usually brush/
vacuuming using a soft brush to gently move the spores /mould towards an operating vacuum
cleaner. The area that this is done in needs to be well ventilated and the operator protected. Dust
is removed similarly. People working with affected material need to be issued with personal
protective equipment – gloves, face masks, ear protection and protective clothing. After removing
the mould the material should be bagged and labelled as having been mould affected.
The space where the work is done needs to be fit for the task, e.g. enough space to separate
unprocessed and processed material, equipment to operate vacuum cleaners, fans etc. Insectinfested material needs to be double bagged and frozen – the recommended conditions are -20°C
for 10 or more days.


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Storage Preparation

Mould removal


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Storage Preparation
• Removal of self-adhesive tapes if possible.
Removal of rubber bands, paper clips, pins
and rusting staples, and post-it notes.
Removal of acidic papers, tissues and card and
replace if possible with acid-free/archival
tissues and papers.


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Storage Preparation
Self-adhesive tape damage


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Storage Preparation
• Photographic materials and albums need to be
assessed carefully, as photographs in contact with the
wrong materials can cause irreparable damage to
valuable images. Magnetic albums with pressure
sensitive adhesive lines holding photographs under a
sheet of clear pvc are some of the worst offenders.
Black paper photo albums also cause problems when
the sulphur from the black dye reacts with the silver in
the image emulsion. Fading of images is a common
result of this form of deterioration.

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Storage Preparation
• Photographic materials should be handled
while wearing gloves. The oils and acids from
skin can permanently mark photographic
emulsions and the silver in the image.
• The same applies to handling metal objects
although it is probably better to wear cotton
gloves for this task.

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Storage Preparation
In summary
• Protect yourselves appropriately before doing
any of this work.
• Removal of general hazardous materials/ items.
• Removal of external agents of deterioration.
• Removal of self-adhesive tapes, rubber bands,
paper clips, staples and post-it notes.
• Removal of acidic tissues, papers and boards.

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Housing and Protection
•
•
1.
2.
3.

4.

Collections need protection to slow the rate of deterioration.
Archival quality housing and/or protection materials can assist in slowing the
deterioration of an object by a number of ways,
By being an inert or buffered material and not adding further acids to the object.
Archival papers, tissues and cards used as linings or interleavings.
By acting as a barrier to dust, mould spores, skin acids and oils but allowing access
e.g. clear polyester sleeves.
By absorbing moisture and temperature from the surrounding air in times of high
humidity and high temperatures - creating a more stable environment inside for
an object/s. Boxes constructed from archival card or polypropylene with paper or
card packing work extremely well in this regard.
By storage in appropriate cabinets e.g. plan file cabinets with interleaving
papers/folders or in polyester sleeves. Retrieval is easier when items are housed in
packages with cataloguing labels or accession numbers clearly visible on the
outside.


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•

Inert “plastics” – polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene are used to make sleeves,
bags and boxes.

•

Examples – oven bags are a thin polyester and can be used for the storage of
paper items however it may be more convenient to purchase Mylar™ sleeves
which are manufactured to various sizes to suit collection materials, e.g.
Photographs or postcards.

•

Polyethylene is the plastic used to make ziplock bags, A4 sleeves, freezer bags and
food containers. Polyethylene can be used for the storage of paper collections
however it is not as transparent as the polyester.

•

Polypropylene is used to make sleeves for albums and also wallets, covers for ring
binders and boxes. The wallets and boxes are generally flat packed and need to be
folded up before use.


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• The plastic to be avoided at all costs is PVC. PVC degrades to a
yellow oily viscous material which spreads to anything it is in
contact with and is highly acidic. PVC has a characteristic smell –
plastic raincoats and beach balls.
• When storing collection items in boxes it is a good idea to pack the
boxes with a foam to cushion the bottom of the box and pack
around the object/s with materials such as papers, tissues or card
to buffer the environmental changes. Foams such as cellaire or
ethafoam (both polyethylene) are good for cushioning objects in
boxes particularly if the contents are fragile e.g. Glass plate
negatives.


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• Acid-free tissues, papers, card and boards.
• Acid-free tissues are used to mainly interleave materials
and pack around items in boxes. Protect the surfaces of
fragile media items such as pastels and charcoal
drawings.
• Acid-free papers can be used as photocopy papers for
preservation copy purposes. Strips of acid-free paper can
be used as place markers or for accession tags.


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• Acid-free cards are used to make wallets,
folders and phase boxes.
• Acid-free mount board is a thicker board used
to mount, store and display works of art on
paper, paper documents and photographs.


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• Boxes can be either of an acid-free corrugated card or
made from polypropylene. Boxing documents or objects
adds significantly to their long-term survival. We need
only look at the condition of boxed items from attics or
similar storage compared to unboxed items to know this.
A recent controlled fire test run in conjunction with
National Archives and the ACT Fire Brigade also
demonstrated that boxed items were less extensively
damaged than the unboxed items.

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• Solander boxes are often used to store art on paper and
photographic print collections HOWEVER they are
expensive. These boxes are robust and constructed using
hoop pine plywood, usually covered with black buckram
and lined with an acid-free lining paper. The works are
mounted with standard size window matts and then
placed one on top of the other in the box. The works are
then dust-free, insect free, light excluded stable
temperature and humidity.

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• Mounted and framed pictures or photographs are
stored by hanging by 2 points on a metal mesh
mounted to a wall or depending on size and
complexity of the frame moulding stacked with
interleaving sheets on padded blocks.
• Covering with tyvek sheeting is recommended to
stop dust and can also protect from water leaks.


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In summary
• Try where possible to use archivally sound materials to house or protect
your collections.
• Inert plastics such as polyethylene, polyester and polypropylene.
• Avoid the use of pvc at all times.
• Acid-free tissues, papers and cards and boards.
• Acid-free corrugated board boxes or polypropylene boxes.
• Solander boxes constructed of archival materials.
• Framed items can either be hung on a wall mesh by 2 points NOT by the
hanging wires or stacked with interleaving sheets on padded blocks.


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Collection Storage Areas
• The room or building where your collection is stored has a
huge bearing on the survival outcomes of collections.
• Ideally it is clean with stable or little variation in the
temperature and relative humidity.
• Sunlight is excluded from the room or does not fall onto
collection items.
• Regular house-keeping (cleaning) and checks are done –
checking for dust, insects, mould, water leaks, rodents, birds
and even building soundness i.e. Wall cracks, sagging ceilings.


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• Collections are stored on shelving or in cabinets or plan file
cabinets.
• Collections are stored away from external walls.
• Collection storage shelving can have roller blinds installed at
the front of the shelving to stop light falling onto items. The
blinds can be rolled up to allow access to the collections.
• Good labelling on boxes, cupboards and shelving. Large rolled
items or large boxes can benefit from having small
photographs of contents with the outside labels.


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Window openings closed off with
a light excluding and insulating
panel – NLA Pictures collections
storage. Note that no collection
material is stored next to the
external wall.


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In summary
• Think of the room or storage area as the outer box of the box within a box storage
concept.
• Regular housekeeping, cleaning and checking storage areas can alert custodians to
potential problems and allows for timely remedial action rather than dealing with
a future costly disaster.
• House all collection items off the floor – damaging for collection items as well as
personnel.
• Try to position all shelving, cabinets etc in areas of the most stable temperature
and humidity. Avoid storage of collections next to external walls.
• Good labelling of storage and containers.


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Conclusion
• Good Housekeeping and a clean well
organised storage space is one of the best
things you can do for your collection.
• Good quality enclosures can protect collection
materials from fluctuations in temperature
and humidity, as well as protect them from
dirt, dust, mould, insects and rodents.

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It’s simple but just in case....
If you need some assistance the Community Heritage Grants
office can help put you in contact with the person who can
answer your question.
Mary-Louise Weight 02 62621147 chg@nla.gov.au


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Preservation Basics by Robin Tait

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