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Re: acid-free paper



On Wed, 26 Sep 2001, Cynthia Van Ness wrote:

> Another option:
>
> For under $10, you can buy an acid-testing pen from such suppliers as
> Light Impressions.  The Rare Book curator at my library tells me that
> most standard commercial copy paper is already low or no-acid, and
> I've seen him pull an ordinary sheet of paper from the recycle bin
> and test it to prove his point.

I discovered the same thing recently.  I had been preparing to order
more PermaLife paper and I remembered that I had heard or read
somewhere that most standard photocopier paper is now acid-free, so I
pulled out my trusty Abbey pH pen and tested several sheets.  It
definitely shows as non-acidic.  I tested some other types of paper,
including some I knew to be acidic, to verify that the pen was
behaving properly.  I also checked with our Preservation folks to
verify that these pens are a reliable test and I was told that they
should be reliable as long as they are of recent vintage.  I'm sure
the regular photocopy paper isn't buffered, so if you need that you'd
better buy the special paper, but we've stopped buying PermaLife where
we just need acid-free.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

James Stimpert                       ** PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING:
Archives (Arts and Sciences)         E-mail:    stimpert@jhu.edu
MSE Library
Johns Hopkins University             Voice:     (410) 516-8323
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD  21218                 Fax:       (410) 516-7202

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