Handling
Accidental damage while handling items can cause tears, creases, broken book spines, or cracking in photographs. The oils in our skin transfer during handling, attracting dirt to paper and permanent marks on photographs.
What you can do: Handling collections carefully helps to prevent physical damages. Make sure your hands are clean and dry when handling and try to wear gloves when touching photographs or film negatives. If you don’t have gloves, only handle photographs on the edges and avoid touching the surface of the image. Open books slowly to prevent cracking the spines and use your hand or other supports to keep fragile books open to a 90°–120° angle.
Light
All organic materials are damaged by light, particularly the ultra-violet (UV) spectrum. The largest source of UV is the sun, but fluorescent and halogen light bulbs also produce damaging UV. Light can fade inks and dyes and discolour paper.
What you can do: When not in use, keep items in a box to protect them from light. On display, keep originals out of direct sunlight and in rooms with lower light. Keep light levels low by closing curtains and blinds. Where possible use LED lights as they emit less UV than other types of bulbs. You may also consider using UV-filtering picture-framing glass, window film, or light fitting filters to minimise UV exposure.
Climate and temperature
Changes in temperature and humidity affect archival materials. Extreme temperature changes can cause severe damage over time as materials expand and contract at different rates, causing them to crack, lift, or tear. Many parts of Aotearoa experience high humidity of over 65%. This increases the risk of mould growth which affects not only our health, but also reduces the life of archives.
What you can do: Storing collections in spare rooms or closets with stable, moderate temperature and humidity can reduce damage. Cooler is better, but consistency is key. Avoid spaces prone to temperature fluctuations and high humidity like basements, bathrooms, kitchens, attics, and garages. Keep collections off the floor, away from heaters, plumbing, and outside walls. Use a dehumidifier (with windows closed), or open windows and use a fan to increase airflow. Moisture absorbers in storage containers and cupboards will help keep humidity below 60%. Consider purchasing a small hygrometer to monitor the humidity levels in a room.
Dirt and dust
When it gathers on archival items, dirt and dust can scratch surfaces like sandpaper. Dust also attracts moisture, which causes mould.
What you can do: Check your collections regularly for dust and mould. Remove loose dirt and dust with a soft brush. Keep collections covered to prevent dust settling on surfaces and use clean hands or gloves when handling your collections.
Pests
There are several pests than can eat your collections, including clothes moths, silverfish, borer beetles, dermestid beetles, and rodents. Mice and rats chew on paper, silverfish and booklice graze on surfaces, and borer tunnel through books.
What you can do: Check your collections regularly to catch any pest attacks before they cause serious harm. Keep storage spaces as dry as possible and keep food and drink away from your collections. Seek assistance if you have an infestation.
Non-archival storage materials
Some materials are not intended for long-term archival preservation because they are low-quality, acidic, or deteriorate quickly.
- Many paper materials (brown carboard boxes, newsprint, and recycled paper products like kraft or printer paper) are acidic or become acidic over time causing yellow/brown staining and weak fibres.
- Wood is acidic and can stain and weaken the paper fibres.
- Metal paper clips and staples rust over time weaking fibres.
- Tapes, glues, rubber bands, Blu-Tack®, Post-it® notes, and self-adhesive ‘magnetic’ photo albums can cause irreversible staining and permanent damage.
- Certain plastics can damage collections, including PVC, coloured plastics, and cellulose acetate.
- Lamination is the heat-sealing of paper between plastic and/or adhesives. Some will shrink and release acids, and some may cause bleeding of dyes and inks. Lamination is often irreversible.
What you can do: Substitute these storage materials for archival-quality items. Avoid laminating valuable documents.
With clean hands, visually inspect your family archives for signs of damage.