We recently received a donation of mineral and
rock specimens in which the labels and notes that accompanied
the material are even more problematical than usual. Some of
the collection has been packed away since about 1945, and has
been intermittently damp. Most (not all) of the notes are still
reasonably legible, but overgrown with mildew and quite fragile.
The information on the notes varies from the terse and obvious
("pyrite") to the utterly inscrutable, with a certain amount
of perfectly good, useful documentation along the way.
        I am wondering what to do with these badly compromised
bits of paper.  It is not a question that I normally have to
face, but in this case it may scarcely be worth trying to
keep them unless I take some special measures to preserve them.
I am also uncomfortable with the idea of introducing a veritable
mildew garden into my files.  I realize that no one can really
solve my problem for me without knowing more about my situation,
but I will be interested to read any comments you care to offer.
 
Craig Sanders
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