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Mylar L-Sleeves and humidity



I've recently been invited to arrange and inventory a historical society
collection that has pretty much been left in piles in wooden drawers, in
an unheated shed (I know, I know, but you have to start somewhere!). I'm
a public librarian with limited archival experience.  Many of the
materials are sole copies of important primary documents about this
town;  after getting the inches of dust and bugs off, I'll put the loose
papers in acid-free folders.

My question is this:  It will be a long process to get the papers into
a storage facility with environmental controls.  In the meantime, am I
safe in inserting the papers into mylar L-Sleeves?  The temperature in
the room fluctuates dramatically with the weather-- would I be "sealing
in moisture" that would further damage the materials?  Or should I just
leave them in the folders as is?

There isn't room to put them in archival boxes-- should I be lining the
wooden drawers with acid-free paper?

Thanks for your sage advice, sorry for the bone-chilling horror.

Sue Gardner
Albert Wisner Public Library
Warwick NY

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