Newspaper from 1800-1861 should be on good quality paper that should not
be showing much sign of deterioration. If they are local, they could
have considerable historic value, based on there availability in your
region. 150-200 year old material is usually considered historic.
There has been consider ink spilt on the policy of "microfilm or scan
and toss" for newspapers. This tends to make what remains even more
valuable.
During the Civil War paper began to be made from lower quality
materials. By the turn of the century (much earlier in many locations)
groundwood became the common paper type for newspapers. The groundwood
newsprint is the material that is yellowing markedly and crumbling. It
will only get worse, so doing something now is desirable.
"Cutting up" is not a Conservation decision, so this will need to be a
curatorial decision. Check with local institutions to see if they have
collected and are storing the materials already.
The advantage of selecting and "cutting up" the article, that the
organization "wants," is that the first level of collecting has been
done. A decision was made that something is saved. This is superior to
throwing it all out, or letting it go even more, and then throwing it
all out because it is unusable. The problem is that some material will
be rejected, which could be important in the eyes of a specialist. The
other problem is that something could be on the back of the area
selected for harvesting.
Some groups are photocopying on to good quality archival paper, but the
resolution is quite low about 150 ppi and very high contrast. It works,
and copied do not need cold storage.
The ideal would be to scan the material to be collected at 600 ppi (300
ppi, if one must) using a tabloid sized scanner, such as the Epson
10000XL, or the older 1640XL, and then hold the newsprint as long as you
can in compact cold (frozen) storage. I don't know the current Microtek
equipment, but past evaluations have steered me clear from even
considering Microtek when making evaluations for clients. Scanning
newsprint may be "just" the right application for a Microtek.
Tim Vitale
Paper, Photographs &
Electronic Media Conservator
Film Migration to Digital Format
Digital Imaging & Facsimiles
Preservation & Imaging Consulting
Preservation Associates
1500 Park Avenue
Suite 132
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-594-8277
510-594-8799 fax
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