How do you neutralise old acidic paper

[richardh]

Does anyone know how you should go about neutralising old acidic paper? I have an old advert for a phonograph that I want to frame dating from the 1920's - before I get it framed should I look to do this and if so should I try to do this myself of is it something best left to a professional.

Any views would be very welcome.

RJ

[MordEth]

Richard,

While I don’t have any recommendations on how to go about neutralizing the paper, I did want to mention that you may wish to make a duplicate (high quality color scan/print of the advert) and frame that instead. Last night I had an offline discussion regarding framed materials and fading—depending on where you’re planning on placing the framed advert and how much light it gets, after a few years of being on the wall it may degrade, whether it’s neutralized or not.

I’m not sure how much this would affect print advertising, but with other framed materials it’s a significant concern.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could give you more informed advice.

— MordEth

[gramophoneshane]

I agree with David, and think you're probably better off getting a quality copy made, and properly storing the original. Even if it is possible to neutralize the acid content without damaging the paper, sunlight & humidity with still have an effect on it eventually.
Personally, I don't worry too much about hanging original ads etc on the wall, but just take precausions to keep them away from direct or bright sunlight & drafts, and have them mounted with acid free glue & mounts etc.
All of my ads have come from magazine though, so I probably would copy a newspaper ad because newspaper yellows alot faster with exposure to light than better quality papers.
You could always go the "fine art" route, and limit it's time on the wall, and use UV meters to measure & monitor sunlight & flurescent light, but making a copy would be easier

[WDC]

I absolutely agree with David and Shane, especially if the room has windows. There is some special protective glass available from Schott for framing with UV filter. It normally used by museums to protect their presented material. Nevertheless, I do feel better with a copy on the wall and the original safe in a dark and secure place.
Regarding the acid problem, there are some places where they do book restoration. Antique bookshops or larger museums should be able to redirect you to the right place. It takes a special facility with a chamber where many books are processed at once. Somehow, this chamber is then flooded with special chemicals to change the paper's acid-base property.

I wonder if cylinder boxes could stand this procedure too.

Norman

[need4art]

Hi All,
This is what I happen to do for a living- at least one aspect of it. I currently work for (besides my retail customers) the Heard Museum, the University of Arizona, the Wisconson Historical Society and others. I could give you the formula to do this but the kicker is that it is done with freon gas as a carrier to keep any ink from running.

I can give you a quote if you want to contact me off line @ [email protected]

Using acid free mats and a glass called True View Conservation will do much to keep the color and paper from fading and foxing. The glass used to be very expensive but now costs less then standard non glare and it is a 97.86% UV filter

While the copy idea works why not just use the orginial
and just frame it in a proper way wether you neutralise the item or not. Make sure that the framer uses a 2ply rag backer as well as acid free foam core and you should be good to go.

Abe

[need4art]

By the way as a post scrip to Norman's question -the cylinder boxes can be done-the old cotton liner has to go-but because of their thickness it will take a fair amount of chemical. The boxes that would be worth doing would be the concert types because they are worth so much more. Though some of the more valuble 2&4 min might be worth doing as well.
Abe

[richardh]

Abe,
thanks for your advice on this...I think I may go down the high quality copy route and will have a look into getting this done. As the advert is between A4 and A3 size I will need to find somewhere that has a high quality A3 size colour scanner.

RJ

[WDC]

Abe, Thanks a lot for the info about the possibility of processing cylinder boxes. The one I was thinking is from the 1890's and gladly does not have the cotton glued into the box.

I was just concerned with the label that is glued on the box, just that it would not fall off or suffer from any damage due to the neutralization process.

[hr][/hr]

Sven, You are absolutely right. This was just a question for preserving both the record and the box. At least very expensive records should not be stored in their old boxes/sleeves. Plastic is okay as long it is specially developed for archival purposes without any softener additive.

A friend of mine also collects vinyl and had the original cover also stored in pretty expensive plastic sleeves. Over time, the covers reacted with the plastic and became irreversibly stuck together. So, just a general warning to anyone who uses plastic sleeves and has no details about the material. The cheapest way to store fragile papers is white acid-free wrapping paper.

Norman