Archival Safe Scrapbooking Tips and Links...
Scrapbookers do what they do for an infinite number of reasons, and some, like me, joined in this wonderful hobby and art form without education about practicing archival safety. Recently, when I received photos from my husband's family collection – photos that spanned four generations of his maternal family – I was thrilled with the idea of scrapbooking some of these precious photos for my husband and children, honored that they would entrust such a treasure to me, and… a little anxious to handle such valuable pieces of their family history.
This collection deserves special treatment, so I set about learning more about the best methods to preserve family heirlooms, and was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of information, work, and costly materials and techniques required to safely archive these photos according to professional standards. When using the term archival safe, most manufacturers mean the products are, at minimum, acid-free. Interestingly, during my research, I learned that the terms archival safety and archival safe scrapbooking do not even have industry standards. True archival preservation can be entrusted to professional conservators, but for most families, professional conservators are not an option. Thankfully, many preservation professions have provided a lot of valuable advice both in printed publications and online for the rest of us. I found that there are commonly recommended preservation practices that we can apply to preserving and scrapbooking our personal collections, listed in the "Do's and Don't-s" list below.
Do's:
- Store important photos in acid-free albums or acid-free photo boxes
in a safe, comfortable, low humidity, no-pollution, low temperature
(65-68 degrees is ideal), light-free location. Light, heat, moisture,
and pollution cause the most damage to photos and heirloom objects.
Protecting them in the manner indicated above, as recommended by many
professionals dedicated to preservation, can dramatically extend the
life of paper-based materials.
- Store negatives or digital image CD/DVD archives in a different location
from original photos, in preparation for the possible event of a natural
disaster.
- Use doubles or copies of original photos for archival scrapbooking.
Keep all important originals encapsulated in cool-temperature, moisture-free
storage, as mentioned above, for posterity.
- Have doubles or copies made with the best quality processing available
to you. According to Wilhelm Research Imaging, photo lab prints using
Fujifilm Crystal Archive Paper have a fade resistance of 40 years. Ink
Jet prints created with certain Epson or Hewlett Packard printers, archival
photo paper, and pigment inks reportedly have even better permanence
of over 75 years.
- Minimize human contact directly with photos. One of the best qualities
about scrapbooks is that you *can* share those precious photos yet also
prevent sticky, salty, oily human fingers from coming into direct contact
with your photos. The Library of Congress recommends using cotton gloves
when handling photos directly.
- Use acid and lignin free papers. When archivally scrapbooking copies
of favorite photos, utilize the same standards by the Library of Congress,
by choosing either acid and lignin free buffered paper (calcium carbonate
is applied to the paper for a base (non-acidic) finish) or acid and
lignin free neutral unbuffered paper (this comprises most of the scrapbook
papers available today).
- Use deacidification spray for ephemera and important memorabilia or
make photocopies onto acid-free paper. Most copy stores do not provide
true preservationist photocopies, but copies on acid-free paper will
endure much longer than original memorabilia printed on lignin based
material. Visit the Scrapbook Preservation Society link for more information
on washing and deacidifying materials at home.
- Use acid free photo corners for photos, acid free glues and tapes
for adhering embellishments.
- Use acid-free stickers and low-depth embellishments.
- Store scrapbooks upright and provide ample room for binding. Handle
scrapbooks with two hands, to preserve the binding.
Don't-s:
- Don't scrapbook with rare heirloom documents! Make copies or scan
and make reprints.
- Don't laminate original photos or documents.
- Don't use untested paper that may contain acid or lignin. Nearly all
scrapbook papers are acid and lignin free to help preserve our photographs
and memorabilia.
- Don't use adhesives, stickers, or any other sticky materials directly
on photos, not even the many acid-free, CK OK! dry and wet adhesives
available today. For photos and prints, the Library of Congress recommends,
"Prints of historic value should be matted with acid-free rag or
museum board for protection. Adhesives should not touch the print. Matting
should be done by an experienced framer or under the direction of a
trained conservator." Without the budget for an experienced framer
or a trained conservator, mounting photos with photo corners onto acid
and lignin-free cardstock remains the affordable and reasonable option
to archivally scrapbook Junior's 1 st birthday party or that copy of
that rare 1920's family photo.
- Avoid bulky or sharp objects in your archival scrapbook. They may
dent or damage layouts and heirloom photographs in the same book.
- Don't use page protectors made with PVC. How can you tell if it's
a PVC page protector? Check the packaging or, if no indication is provided,
sniff the material. If it is odorous, like a new vinyl shower curtain,
it probably is made with vinyl (PVC). Most page protectors made with
archival safe polypropylene, polyethylene, and polyester say so on the
package, explaining the higher price difference.
- Don't pile scrapbooks on top of each other or lay scrapbooks flat
on their sides. Any bulky items may dent adjacent pages and photos due
to weight. Bindings can get loosened and fall apart. If exposed to a
humid environment, photos and ephemera can stick to page protectors
and become damaged.
- Don't use magnetic or self-stick albums: "Never use commercially
available "magnetic" or "no stick" albums for the
storage of contemporary or historic photographic prints in black-and-white
or color. These materials will deteriorate quite quickly over time."
– Library of Congress.
- Don't expose important scrapbook pages or photos for that matter to
extended periods of light. Even the light that filters through standard
home windows has some UV light in them that can deteriorate your photos
and layouts.
- Don't use unstable or harsh chemicals in archival projects: Solvent
inks such as my beloved Sharpies and Staz-On will eventually damage
photos. Many non-pigment inkjet inks and dye inks will eventually fade
and/or change color. Standard crayons, wax, and pastels can melt or
crumble apart and damage nearby photos.
- Don't overfill scrapbooks. If your scrapbook gets "alligator
mouth" – the ends don't close like together like a book properly
should, move your scrapbook pages to a bigger album, such as a D-ring
album, or extend your scrapbook with post extenders.
Archival Safe Supplies:
Now that we've learned common safety measures we can take while creating and storing archival safe scrapbooks, which supplies are archival safe for scrapbooking?
Al and Jeanne Thelin have written an extensive online guide of embellishments safe for scrapbooking, located in the Scrapbook Preservation Society's Article Section: http://www.scrapbookpreservationsociety.com/articles/
Creating Keepsakes conducts CKOK testing of scrapbook supplies. Products listed on the CKOK list undergo rigorous testing for archival safety and permanence. Visit the CKOK list here: http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/letsscrapbook/ck_ok/?forward=whats_safe
Learn More (Sources):
As stated before, the information provided in the archival scrapbooking tip table is just the tip of the iceberg. The sources below provide much more extensive education on preservation, archival safe scrapbooking, and archival safe scrapbooking supplies:
Library of Congress – Preservation Articles By Subject
Extensive collection of Preservation Articles, also includes preservation advice for non-scrapbooking subjects.
http://www.loc.gov/preserv/Wilhelm Research Institute
WRI conducts research on the stability and preservation of photographs and motion pictures. WRI provides brand-name ratings and the book, The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures, by Henry Wilhelm with contributing author Carol Brower, free to the general public at its website.
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/Scrapbook Preservation Society
Society dedicated to scrapbooker education about preservation. Articles include preservation information including the extensive list of acid-free materials suitable for scrapbooking, washing and deacidifying memorabilia to include in archival scrapbooks, and much more.
http://www.scrapbookpreservationsociety.com/articles/Creating Keepsakes, CKOK List
The CKOK list contains CK tested and approved product lists for archival safe scrapbooking supplies.
http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/letsscrapbook/ck_ok/?forward=whats_safe
