Mark,
A local historical society where I volunteered had a similar project.
Volunteers clipped all the relevant articles and the clippings (mounted on
acid-free paper, where all names/dates are written) were placed in flat, acid
free, lined and labeled boxes. The articles can now be catalogued and
accessed. This initial project allowed for the preservation, organization,
consolidation, etc.
When funding and resources becomes available - these articles can be
scanned (many will have to be photographed because they may not produce a good
copy or scan) and reproduced. How much work you want to do and are able to do of
course is dependent on available funding and resources (time, labor, etc).
Clipping the articles first would make it easier to embark on the
scanning and reproducing -and for the ones in the worst conditions would be
a priority. At the same time you could also print out each of these and the
copies would serve as a back-up. Just retaining the originals would not be a
viable option, even if you were to attempt to preserve them...you would want to
have a back-up anyway.
You can document and clip the articles and place them in acid-free folders
and then scan and print them all out at a later. Or prepare to do this all at
once - have one person clipping and documenting, while the other is scanning and
printing them out.
Any of these which are moldy should be dealt with first. And for the others
which are already deteriorated - attempts to preserve them would be
labor-intensive and more costly than reproducing them. In the
meantime, until embarking on this project, you should isolate the
moldy, contaminated ones from the rest of the collection and if possible, create
a proper microenvironment for the remainder to prevent further
deterioration.
Retaining the original articles and entire newspapers does not seem to be a
viable option for the most obvious reasons. Before you toss the remainder though
- you may want to offer them to a local historical society or other
organization.
Certainly storing and preserving copies in files has many benefits over
saving and storing the original articles.
Handling the originals will be an issue and personally, I would opt for
scanning/copying immediately after they are clipped in order to reduce handling
and to avoid having to store the originals any longer.
Best of luck with the project,
Pam
In a message dated 7/5/2006 10:29:38 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Good Morning:
I know this subject has been brought up in the
past, but I hope I can get some reaffirmation on my thought processes, or
direction the thr right path to follow.
We have a collection of in excess of 2,100 sheets
of newsprint from a single donor. Some are single sheets, some are entire
newspapers, and some are color rotogravures. They range in age from the late
1800s on up. They all contain articles related to aviation.
Most of the sheets are packed flat in boxes, and
are in fair condition. However, as expected they are all yellowed and brittle,
and "shedding" bits of paper from their edges. A few sheets are in large
newpapers binders which are moldy.
My initial thoughts are these: 1) the information
is important, not the actual newspapers (with the acception of the
rotogravures perhaps), 2) treating them all with deacidification spray is not
practical, 3) our climate controls in collection storage are poor, only adding
to the problem.
My thoughts on handeling this collection leave two
options: 1) scan/photocopy/photograph the relavent articles from each sheet
and dispose of the originals, and/or 2) clip pertenenat articles, encapsulate,
and dispose of rest.
Am I on the right track here? I would greatly
appreciate any technical or ethical input. What about these rotogravures?
Should the originals be kept?
Thank you in advance,
________________________
Mark D.
Hanson
Curator
Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum
1011 Pacesetter
Drive
Rantoul, Illinois 61866-3672
217-893-1613
* 217-892-5774 (fax)
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