Folded documents

Ron Lieberman <ronbiblio<-a t->delphi< . >com> writes

>I am working with a large collection of 19th
>Century documents, deeds, and letters (mainly stampless covers),
>several thousand items. These were folded and stored for over 100
>years. The question:  Should these be flattened out and stored flat
>or left

The policy I applied to a similar but smaller document collection
was to flatten all paper documents. Minor repairs were undertaken;
for the letters and documents which were in a fragile condition
Mylar enclosures were made to give extra support, but envelopes were
left folded and these were placed in Mylar folders with 2 sides
open. As you state, this saves any further unfolding of the
documents, and so less risk of tears forming along fold lines.
Hope this helps,

Jeanette Regan
Branch Librarian
Library, Mt Stromlo (ANU)
Private Bag
Weston Creek PO ACT 2611
Australia
+61-6249-0226
Fax: +61-6249-5635

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:36
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 15, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-36-005
                                  ***