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Archival Postcard Storage - keeping your collection safe
Days Past have been dealing in old picture postcards for over twenty five years, during this time much progress has been made in the field of archival storage. In the early days 'plastics' were seen as an ideal medium and little consideration was given to the effects the smelly 'vinyl' packets and pages were having on our valuable cards.
The very fact that these early covers had an odour should have given a clue as the chemicals they gave off are the very acid vapours that cause damage to photographs and colour pigments.
Today's storage pages and covers are odourless, 'inert', 'acid-free' polypropylene or polyester and do a much better job of keeping your collection safe.
There are however a few other considerations apart from album pages and covers that can affect the longevity of your collection.
Early postcard albums were made from paper and card - produced using wood pulp, acids and bleach and animal glues. Incredibly many original collections have survived well for nearly a century in these 'acid' pages though other factors will have played a part - most of which are still relevant for today's collections.
Humidity - high moisture levels speed the chemical reactions that cause deterioration, particularly of photographs. At the extreme, damp can also facilitate fungal growth or 'foxing' in paper. A relative humidity of 35% is widely recommended
Temperature can be an important factor - especially with humidity, a cool dry room is the ideal, as high temperatures speed chemical deterioration. However cold may also attract damp through condensation. So a basement or cellar is not ideal, neither is an attic which may get too hot, or too cold! ~ a stable environment is also desirable.
Other atmospheric impurities can influence longevity, such as sulphide in the air - although we can do little about air quality, but we can avoid dust. Wooden furniture is a risk, metal cabinets are more suitable as wood generates 'harmful' vapours and should be painted with water-based acrylic or polyeurethane to minimise the risk.
Also to be avoided are direct sunlight, flourescent lighting (tungsten bulbs are safer particularly for photographic cards), paint fumes and household cleaning fluids, cardboard and plywood and other wood products, rubber bands, paper clips, adhesive tapes, blue-tack...
.. and my personal 'pet-hate' those sticky page photo albums that at best leave parallel lines of adhesive on the back of postcards and are likely to tear chunks off when removed.
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