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Re: acid-free paper



Although it is true that most photocopier or printer paper is now
acid-free, it may still not be archival in terms of weight and folding
strength.  If you want to ensure it will last a very long time, it is wiser
to buy the paper from an archival supplier.

Alex Pezzati
Interim Senior Archivist
University of Pennsylvania Museum Archives
33rd & Spruce Sts.
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324

Tel.:   (215) 898-8304
Fax:    (215) 898-0657
e-mail: apezzati@sas.upenn.edu
www:    http://www.upenn.edu/museum/

At 11:50 AM 9/26/01 -0400, James Stimpert wrote:
>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.
>
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>
>James Stimpert                       ** PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING:
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>