Preserving Old Newspapers

Toss a paper keepsake into a pile, and in months it can yellow and crumble like papyrus from Tut’s tomb. But there are things you can do to keep paper keepsakes safe.

Most printed paper “contains the seeds of its own destruction,” says University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries archivist Michael Doylen.

You can read Doylen's suggestions in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/962459.html.

Comments

[Oxa]

If you're going to cite an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, you should provide the link to that newspaper, not to some Kansas City website.
http://www.jsonline.com/features/homeandgarden/36448059.html

[Dick Eastman]

It is the same article in both newspapers. I wouldn't be surprised to find it in still other papers as well.

[Peter H.]

The suggestions in the article(s) are a good start. There are three more things which can be done to preserve a newspaper article better:

1. call the newspaper and request a re-print of the article on bond paper. Cost is usually small.

2. make a digital photo of the article/page and preserve in tif format.

3 acquire a de-acidification spray from an archival supplies company. Although expensive, does work on all sorts of things, especially newsprint and old/cheaply printed books.

Then store anything preserved correctly and use cotton gloves (cheap dollar store ones are pretty good but wash them first to remove oils and sizing). I learned this from an qualified paper conservator.

[Richard Heaton]

Having quite a large collection of newspapers from the 18th to 19th Century I'd just add --

If you are going to collect newspapers - in addition to the above consider buying acid free archive quality newspaper storage boxes. This ensures you can store your newspaper flat rather than folded. And absolutely don't keep them in the attic or basement (my "Moon Landing" newspaper given to me as a kid is looking decidedly brittle and brown - precisely because of such bad treatment !)

Best Regards
Richard H

[Betsy S.]

I don't know if my situation is in any way "typical," but here's my plan. My late father collected newspapers as he considered them significant: moon landing, famous deaths, declarations of war and peace, resignations, elections, etc., over the years. The headline is the significant part, and the fact that he retained the paper. To deacidify the three-foot high stack would surely bankrupt me, and to retain these things all laid out flat would take over the living room.

So far, I am bringing a small stack of papers at the time into my living room where they acclimate to a better environment than the footlocker in the basement where they'd been. I plan to sort the papers by date, record the dates and headlines separately, and then put the papers into archival folders and boxes. For now, I am content to record the fact of the major world events he found significant, and to stop further deterioration. I am aware that this is not the method that an archivist in a major institution might use, but I think it is appropriate to the group of material and to the information it gives me.

[Paul K. Graham]

The best way to preserve the information (especially individual articles) is to copy the article onto alkaline (acid-neutral) paper. As many people, including Dick, point out, digital formats are no substitute for good paper copies.

Many archives have stopped attempting to preserve newsprint and instead create microfilm or paper preservation copies.

[MEL SCHWARTZ]

Looking for a copy of the NY TIMES FEB 15, 1949