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Building Dedicated |
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September 1, 1998 |
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Murfreesboro,Tennessee |
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801 B.North Maney Avenue |
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615-895-5225 |
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http://area64tnarchives.org |
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Not Just For Today |
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Lets say 100 Years |
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Never do anything to any archives that cannot be
undone. |
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Acid Free Paper only for making copies. |
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Unlike our Program we are trying to preserve and
protect our Precious Memories for a hundred years or more. |
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Acid migrates from one piece of paper to
another. |
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Glues and Tapes should be considered carefully. |
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Encapsulation not Lamination. |
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In our repository we are taking steps to remove
the staples from older documents. After many years the staples will begin
to rust and start to destroy the paper it touches. |
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The process is simple to remove the staples. Use
a lifting tool to raise each leg of the staple. Be careful not to tear the
paper in the process. Sharp pointed lifting tools should be used with
caution. |
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If there is no major tears or damage you can use
a cleaning pad to remove some of the rust. A plastic paper clip or coated
clip that will not rust can be used to hold papers together. |
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Although these will not rust they have a
tendency to crimp and even tear the paper. So my personal preference is to
use stainless steel or coated paper clips. |
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This legal size document was discovered folded
to fit a standard size filing folder. The staple needs to be addressed as
well as the creased paper. |
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So we have a creased document. Depending on the
document we should consider the texture of the paper. Is it so brittle that
unfolding it will cause it to break? |
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A good bone folder is good for many uses in
working with paper documents. Take the very smooth bone folder and gently
begin to unfold the crease if it isn’t to brittle. A good flat surface is
important also. |
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I know it isn’t easy to work with gloves. There
are very important reasons that we need to use gloves. Take your index
finger and thumb and squeeze down your nose. Now wipe them on some clean
glass. |
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The oils from our skin can be quite damaging to
paper. For common every day materials we handle this is never a concern.
However keep in mind that we are attempting to preserve these documents for
many years. |
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Its hard to be to careful with these Precious
Memories. At our very best we will make mistakes on the way. A slip of the
scalpel or a break of the paper. Don’t worry you will learn as you go. |
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As I began to dig thru the folders to get to
what I was looking for I noticed several things. |
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1:Folded and creased papers. |
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2: Legal size papers folded in standard size
files. |
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3: Staples beginning to rust. |
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4: Yellowed or smoke saturated papers. |
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5: Documents from wrong groups in wrong folders. |
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6: Numerous copies of the same document in many
of the folders. |
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7: Paper Clips and the damage that they can do. |
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8: Folders and Filing Cabinets overstuffed. |
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9: Handwritten dates and other info added to
documents possibly by whomever filed papers. |
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10:Laminated documents with no way for future
preservation. |
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When your Archivist/Historian access's a
particular folder, they might take the time necessary to do just a few
things that will help to insure the continued life of your repository.
Remember when you access material, it is not foolish to think that this
folder might not be accessed again for many years. So it might be wise to
think about the following suggestions. |
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1: Remove staples and metal paper clips.
(Replace with coated or plastic clips.) |
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2: Remove un-related material and place
properly. |
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3: Remove anything more than duplicates and
place or distribute properly. |
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4: Try to keep all pertinent documents together. |
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5: Ph test on backs of documents that are in
question. |
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6: Straighten all crease's and folds. |
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7: Older or more fragile precious documents
might be put in archival quality polyester sleeves. |
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1: The coated paper clips seem to work the best.
Unlike the plasti clip the coated paper clips don't seem to crease and
damage the papers as bad. |
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2: Un-related material might be District 10
material in District 32 folder. etc. |
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3: Many times there may be several of the same
documents in a single folder. Two of the best copies might be
preserved/archived and the others distributed to the Area or District or
Group to which they pertain. |
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A folder for Duplicates might be compiled and
occasionally distributed properly. |
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4: Say for instance a Old Member passes on and
their family donates all their AA related material to an Area Archives. In
this case if it is possible it would be nice to keep these items together. |
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5: Obviously this leaves a mark. So in the least
conspicuous place would be the best place to test. |
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6: Use a bone folder or something similar to
un-fold and straighten out best you can. Re-stack papers neatly. |
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7: Of course more precious documents that are
fragile or maybe acidic would need a little closer examination. It might be
wise to add the more fragile documents into a archival quality sleeve for a
little added protection. |
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8: It is also wise to copy fragile or acidic
documents and label as (COPY) for future Archivists/Historians. |
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Sometime in the past the date of this document
was penciled in the top center of the document. Keep a standard for any
penciling or acid test. We try to use the lower right hand corner @ |
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Area 64Archives |
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Remember what the first thing we learn in
Archival work. |
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Never do anything that cannot be un-done. |
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You can find a lot of this information |
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We have covered @ the url above. |
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. For long term archival storage |
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70* + or
minus 2 * temperature. |
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50% + or
minus 5% humidity |
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How Not To Store Grapevines |
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Rubber-bands Are A NoNo |
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1:Rubberbands were removed. |
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2: Grapevines were kept in order the Rubber
bands kept them in, this hopefully will save on Archivists work separating
by month and year again. |
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3:Grapevine were put back in Filing Case laying
Flat and the curled Grapevines were put towards bottom with weight of
others to hopefully reshape to original form. |
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Notes