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 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).