Hi all...

I've been a lurker on here for quite some time, so I'm sure someone can help
me.  I
just started working at the local historical society museum.  I love it, they
are
really open to suggestions, and they think I know everything (I know photo
conservation, and I'm still learning that.)  It's a great museum, staffed
primarily
by retired volunteers who are wonderful researchers.  The problem, if you can
really call it that, is that they see the museum and archives as a research
facility.  Having a xerox of a 150 year-old newspaper is just as good as the
real
thing to them.  From a research point-of-view, it's actually better.

I did my first exhibit last week, on turn-of-the-century valentines.  They were
quite beautiful, and very detailed (some were lace, some had moving parts, some
were 3-dimensional).  There were currently being stored in a box, all piled
together, with other holiday cards.  Pieces were breaking off every time the
box
was moved.    I managed to at least get them in some envelopes to minimize the
damage, but it's just temporary.  I had a difficult time convincing them to let
me
put the valentines in a display case and not tack them up on felt bulletin
boards
("But it's just a little hole, it's not really hurting them!"  eek!)

My problem is - what do I do with them now?  One of the volunteers (the leader
of
the pack, really) wants me to encapsulate them in mylar.  For the ones that
simply
lie flat and have no moving parts, I can't see anything wrong with this.  But
some
of them are quite bulky.  And I don't want to seal up the ones that pop open.
Money is, as always, an issue, so I can't even suggest to them any solutions
that
will cost a lot of money.  I personally, don't like encapsulation.  It may help
preserve them, but they don't look very nice in the exhibit boxes.

So... does anyone have any suggestions for what I should do next?


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Elizabeth Vance
[log in to unmask]

Okay, just one more.  Look at me... hold it.. hold it... <click> Got it!
Thanks, you've been great.
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