Hi Nikki – A number of years ago, when working at a historical museum, I had to ‘process’ a large collection of political & social organization memorabilia.  There were a number of ribbons such as you described.  For the more fragile items, we positioned them on acid-free mat board, and encapsulated the ribbon and mat board with Mylar and double-sided tape.  It restricts access to the reverse of the artifact, but allows for safer handling of the artifact as the visibility of the object (vs. what you’d get if you put it in a file folder) limits how much handling of it you do.  I penciled the number on the upper corner of the mat board so it was readily readable.

 

There are a couple things I’d do differently.  Before you encapsulate, make sure you get good images of the front and back.  Also, I wrapped the Mylar around the board, which started to come lose after a couple years.  Now, I would cut two sheets of Mylar and totally encapsulate the board.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.

Best, VivianLea