On Preserving Memorabilia
Posted in Patch Collecting by John E. Pannell on August 22nd, 2008 at 5:02 am There has been some discussion on patch-l recently about storing neckerchiefs. Specifically the question was whether they should be removed from their original plastic bag. As can happen on lists like this messages, especially private emails, can stray from the original topic.
In this case I got into a small discussion with a friend who’s an archivist about Scouting memorabilia storage practices. I noted that there seems to be a mindset in our hobby to only care about how the memorabilia will hold up during the collecting lifetime of the current owner. Since many bigger collectors are already middle aged or older, this represents a time span of a few decades at best. There doesn’t seem to be a sensitivity towards preserving stuff for posterity’s sake.
My archivist friend, who will remain anonymous unless he reveals himself, gave me permission to share his remarks. He can be rather opinionated and to the point. Consider well what he says:
…Which is why those chenilles from the earliest part of the OA are so rare. They were not stored properly, and once the moths got to them, they were ruined to the point of being worthless. The grandchildren of those who bothered to store them in a cedar chest were able to sell them for thousands of dollars.
Which is why those felt items from the 40s and 50 are so rare.
Which is why those cotton items from the 60s and 70s are getting harder to find as time progresses.
Fabric is not designed to last forever. One merely has to look at the extreme fragility of “The Star Spangled Banner” to see how natural fibers that are nearing 200 years old are crumbling away. The Museum and White House of the Confederacy has a long-term preservation project concerning flags and banners from the Civil War, many of which are in tatters because of the slipshod, “It doesn’t matter to me because I’ll be dead” method of storage.
The grandchildren of those who don’t care will want to urinate on their grave because their collection could have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more), but instead they put “Be Stupid” on the top of their “to do” list.
Those who spend the money on proper preservation will net their grandkids a fortune, those who don’t will be profusely thanked by the heirs of those who did.
Popularity: 18% [?]
So given the theory presented here that we need to take the long term approach for our valuable collection what is the long term answer? Is a polypropelene ziploc ok or what about the Brush Creek PPS holders? What should we store our items in?
I suspect that–like computer security–patch preservation depends on the question of what you’re protecting against. For example–I once found a bug or two that had crawled inside a snap-top frame… but I’ve never heard of one getting into a sealed zip-top bag.
(I also suspect that, if the wrong kind of plastic causes any discoloration, a modern patch is likely to show the effect of its own plastic back long before it responds to the bag that you’re keeping it in.)
I know we get in a hurry alot of times and just toss in the current value $3 flap into by patch bin only to reaalize in a few years that that $3 flap is now worth 10X that amount and the value is climbing. This blog post makes me want to go re-evaluate my collection and make sure everything is in either a zip lock baggie or a PPS holder.
John,
I’d be interested in your archivists friends opinion on the proper storage of neckerchiefs and felt patches.
My basic storage mechanism is acid free BCW or Ultra Pro pages with acid free comic boards cut to size. Probably better than some, but may not be ideal. I use 1,2,4, and 6 pocket pages.
If the neckerchief is in its original undamaged plastic bag, I keep it in it. If the bag is torn or damaged I remove it, before storing the neckerchief. Currently each neckerchief is placed in its own plastic bag before I put it in the binder. I’ve not backfilled all of the older neckerchiefs into individual bags, but do bag them when I add a new item to that lodge’s binder.
The collection is in 2 and 3 inch D ring binders and protected from the sun and light.
All of my dupes are in plastic in one form or another, but not acid-free.
[...] Pannell has a post on storing or preserving your collection. It was sparked by a question Bill Griesmyer on [...]
The best way to store your neckerchiefs and/or felt patches is to put them in either ph-neutral or alkaline (also called “buffered”) boxes. If you are concerned about insects, you can place them inside polypropelene bags, which are significantly cheaper than the archival standard that calls for polyester (which is *significantly* more expensive). This storage is intended to be a defence against insects only, and is not intended to be an ideal. They dyes, and sizing used in the thread and fabrics will by themselves emit fumes, and there is a chance that those fumes, if sealed inside a bag, will over time accelerate the damage. Better to attack the insects than punish your collection.
I can understand why you would want to leave the n/c in the original bag, however, if the bag is discoloured or smells of petroleum, I would strongly encourage you to remove it.
Acid free paper/boarding is a good start, but you also want your paper to be to be lignin free. One of the best investments you can make is a pH testing pen. I had a professor tell me that she tested *every* lot of paper she ordered for her archive (the Special Collections section of the Rivera Library and UC-Riverside, California) because she did not trust her suppliers, and more than once what she was told was acid free was *not* acid free. I am not familiar with BCW or Ultra-Pro pages, so I cannot comment on them directly, other than to determine if the pages are acid-free polypropylene, and to check for discolouration (yellowing) and a petroleum smell.
A good place to find this sort of stuff is (believe or not) a photograph company called Light Impressions. They have numerous styles of boxes and sleeves that are designed to store and preserve photographs of various sizes. Actually archive supply companies that immediately come to mind are Gaylord and Metal Edge. However, I cannot say that they supply much beyond boxes.
As for Brush Creeks PPS system. I do not know the chemical makeup of their products. I have some of the envelopes that I have acquired over time, and from their appearance they are something that I would not use for long-term storage. I *believe* they are made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC). If you have had some for a number years, look at them to see if the plastic has become clouded or discoloured. Also, smell the envelopes. If you smell a petroleum smell and/or notice they are discoloured, they are made from PVC or some other volatile plastic, and the discolouration is evidence of the plastic breaking down, and I *guarantee* the fabric will be absorbing the residue, which will result in damage that will negatively affect the value.
Your binders can also be a source of damage. If they are the cheap vinyl binders, they are even as I write this breaking down and emitting harmful fumes that could damage your collection. If you have the sort of binders that are known for pulling ink off printed pages, you have cheap binders. The aforementioned Light Impressions has a number of archival binder boxes. These boxes are a hybrid of a three-ring binder and an archive box.
I could write quite a bit more, but I think John might want to hurt me.
Robert,
Thanks for the detailed response. How about felt patches?
BCW describes their pages as:
Polypropylene Pages:
Heavy-Duty Polypropylene Material (115 micron)
Archival Safe (contains no PVC)
Highest clarity available
Material manufactured in USA
Highest weld strength attainable for this material
Straight bar seals
Designed for 3 ring binder (holes punched & cleared)
Foil stamped BCW logo
Retail packaging
Note: Polypropylene is considered an archival safe material by the Library of Congress.
If John won’t host longer comments, feel free to stop by my blog.
Polypropylene, while not the ideal, is frequently used by archives as an alternative to the hideously expensive polyester.
I am concerned that they do not indicate the pages are acid-free. Nor do they state that the pages pass the P.A.T standards. P.A.T. stands for Photographic Activity Test, which is a storage standard established by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
I took the following directly from archives.gov, the website of the National Archives. They are addressing the issue of *photographic* storage, but I believe the same philosophy should be followed regardless:
“In general, plastic pages and cover sheets made from uncoated pure polyethylene, polypropylene and polyester (also called Mylar D or Mellinex 516) are considered stable and non-damaging to photographs. Polyester is crystal clear and is more rigid than polyethylene and polypropylene. None of these recommended plastics have any odor to them, while polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic does have a strong odor (like a new car odor). Avoid the use of PVC plastics–they generate acids which can fade the photograph in time. In addition, the plastic can stick to items inside and, in some types of photographs (and printed items such as baseball cards), actually cause the image to transfer to the plastic. For these reasons, PVC cover sheets, pages and albums should not be used for valuable photographs or those you want to preserve for a long time.”
The Smithsonian talks about wool:
http://www.si.edu/mci/english/learn_more/taking_care/insects.html
Felt is wool, and as such it will need to be protected from moths and other wool-eating insects. Cedar is normally used to keep insects away…but cedar will also affect the felt in terms of the scent from the cedar penetrating the felt fibres. However, preservation and conservation is a balancing act, and it would be better to have a cedar-scented collection of patrol medallions than what once was a collection of felt patrol medallions that became a feast for the local moth population. The only thing to remember is that cedar does not kill moths or larvae; it only prevents moths from reproducing.
All flippancy aside, the felt items can be stored in the polypropylene pages, and then I would place them in one of the photoboxes that can be obtained from Light Impressions. Once that is done, it would be a relatively simple thing to put in some thin strips of cedar inside the box. The box will not only protect the felt items, but it will also provide a better barrier to dust.
[...] comments from a friend of mine sent via private email dealing with the perceived mindset of many on preserving their patches for posterity. Robert Ross has since revealed himself to be that [...]
Fellow Collectors:
I have enjoyed this conversation every much. I have recently made it back to the collecting community in last year or so. I started collecting when I was activity involved in Scouting during the 80′s. My interest has become real again due to a fellow stamp collector & the one OA flap trade that make me excide with the hobby.
Many of you have seen my name pop up here & there. I hope to keep the collecting fire burning this time around. When I pulled out my collection from the 80′s, I was not surprise to see the problems I had with my collection due to the storage method used. I never put any thought into storage at that time (I was only a teenager).
I have started my collection from scratch with one or two patches as the exception due to my memories of them. I have updated my collecting storage methods two times since I have rejoined the hobby. In the next week or two I hope to have a practical & economical storage system in place.
I pose the following question for everyone to help me with. Can someone please rank the following plastic storage sheets by their quality? They are listed in aphibidical order.
-BCW
-Light Impression’s products
-Ultra Pro
Any help that someone is willing to go out on a limb & propose to me would be great.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Evans
r_c_evans@hotmail.com
This is exactly why we came into the market. We worked with a manufacturer in the USA to create an archival safe envelope and page system. Also, choose a nice acid free paper insert.
If you haven’t seen what we’ve made, please check us out. We’ve increased the sizes and selection over the old “Johnny holders” or PPS.
Order a sample set – you’ll be pleased you did and may have to give up plastic bags forever.
- Joe
besthobbypages.com