How to preserve your family or community archive: the Collection Care Covid-19 lockdown blogs. Blog CC #8

• Want to know which protective enclosures to choose for your collection?
• Bewildered by the options and don’t know how to decide?

In Blog CC #3 we introduced you to ‘The six layers of enclosure’.

Today we are going to take a closer look at the blue circle surrounding your object, known as the ‘primary’ layer of protection. At Gloucestershire Archives we refer to this as the ‘protective enclosure’ (although sometimes, quite inadequately we think, it’s just called ‘packaging’).

A protective enclosure is the innermost layer of protection surrounding an item.  When well made; of stable archival materials (see blog CC #5) and designed to fit properly, it helps to protect against many of the Agents of Deterioration (see blogs CC #4, and CM #1). 

If you’ve had a look at supplier websites, you will know there are many possibilities!  (if not, see blog CC#5 for links). So, where do you start?

Well, it’s important to remember these key rules:

• Always use archival quality materials that are appropriate for the item you want to protect – think photo-safe materials for photographs (more on caring for photographs to come in later blogs).
• Polyester sleeves (or ‘pockets’) should not be used for pastel, chalk or charcoal drawings or anything with a fragile or fragmentary surface as the slight static charge will lift off loose/powdery material
• Polyester should be avoided where humidity and temperature levels are not well controlled (more about this in a later blog). If in doubt stick to paper!
• Your working environment should be clean and dust free if you are using polyester. The electrostatic property of polyester can also attract dust and dirt, which can be gritty, and cause fine abrasion and contamination.
• Don’t use self-adhesive or so called “static” or “magic” albums-eventually the adhesive degrades and items become permanently stuck
• Don’t use rubber bands – they degrade, and contain sulphur which can cause tarnishing in photographs
• Don’t fold or modify a document to fit an enclosure (although keeping an existing fold is ok)
• Avoid paper clips and staples – they can rust and damage items if they become damp

Rusted staple and paperclip

• If you need to keep pages together, place in a separate paper folder, or you could use brass paperclips (100% brass not just coated!) and place a small fold of paper between the clip and original
• Digital records (computer files) must be actively managed as they are very vulnerable to damage and loss, both in their physical storage medium and their digital structure. We will look at this in more detail in a future blog

There is no “one size fits all” answer to which protective enclosures to choose. How you protect your items will also depend on:

• How much space you have available
• What type of storage furniture you have available (shelves/drawers/racking)
• How good the environmental conditions are in your storage area
• How much money you have to spend
• The perceived value of the collection or item
• The fragility or vulnerability of the item
• How the collection is going to be made available and used
• How often each item is likely to be handled
• Whether you have craft skills to make or adapt enclosures
• What tools and resources (such as helpers!) you have available
• Legal issues of ownership and your freedom to act/allocate resources/make collections available
• The need to safeguard personal information and comply with legal General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements

We’ll take a closer look at some of these considerations in future blogs.

Next time, we will show you some of the protective enclosures we have used at Gloucestershire Archives, explain why we have used the solutions we have, and give you some more specific suggestions.

In the meantime, criteria for achieving a basic level of care can be found in your ‘Caring for Collections Action checklist’ (recommended in blog CC #3). You may need to take baby steps over time, but any progress is good, and your precious collection will be better protected!

Finally, here is some advice on the care and conservation of documents and archives, from a recommended source; the Institute of Conservation (ICON) and a really helpful guide from the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) to ‘Photo storage, display, & labelling materials’

Happy reading!

Based on Gloucestershire Archives Heritage Hub Collection Care training developed by Ann Attwood ACR Collections Care Development Officer and Rachel Wales ACR Collections Care Conservator

At Gloucestershire Archives, through our National Lottery Heritage funded “For The Record” project, we will support people to: “document, care for, interpret and celebrate their personal and shared history”.