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Re: How to Handle Old, Crumbling Newspapers?



John,

Not to repeat the good information in others' posts, particularly Cathy
Brown and Jennifer Gunter's good advice, but here are my thoughts.

We see 50-100+ year old newspaper clippings all of the time in our
biographical and subject vertical files.  Sometimes we even find whole
newspapers or sections folded up like you wouldn't believe.  What we
typically do is quickly copy the relevant story (or entire pages on 11X17
paper) and unless the original would have short-term value in exhibits they
go in the trash.  Newsprint is just not worth the time and effort to
preserve, except for really special cases which most of the time are
obvious.  Get the newsprint out of your files and copy onto standard or
acid-free paper.  You'll save valuable staff time and bring a reasonable
measure of conservation to the items.
*******************************************************************
Jeff Malcomson, Archivist
Archives and History Division
Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records
State Capitol, 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007
Phone: 602-542-4159    Toll Free in AZ: 1-800-255-5841
Fax: 602-542-4402
Web site: http://www.lib.az.us/archives/index.html

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