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

At the Monmouth County Archives, we have unfolded about 200 years of
tri-folded court documents since 1994.  We wanted them flat so that
they could be read without unfolding and refolding, to facilitate
sorting, and to prepare for eventual microfilming.  Where there are
several documents pertaining to one case, we place the unfolded
documents in a "microfolder" which is a ledger sized sheet of
Permalife paper folded in half; identifying information is written
in pencil on the front of the microfolder.  Microfolders are grouped
in regular archival folders.  Oversize documents are stored
separately; a cross reference is inserted into the regular sized
file.  Some documents folded for a long time need to be humidified
before unfolding or they break along the folds. We use a large
plastic garbage can with a lid as a humidification chamber.  Large
packets of folded documents may also need humidification to
facilitate flattening.

Gary D. Saretzky, Coordinator, Public History Internship Program,
Rutgers University and Archivist, Monmouth County, New Jersey

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:36
                Distributed: Wednesday, October 15, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-36-006
                                  ***