Polyvinyl acetate

re: Preserving bound archives records

In her inquiry of 5 November, Leslie Beck of King County Archives
requested information about an adhesive to preserve "significant
volumes of recordings."  There are a number of questions I would
tackle before even considering what type of adhesive to use to
repair the bindings.  First, have the records been microfilmed?
Filming the records will go much further to safeguard and make the
information the records contain available than would repairing the
bindings.  Once filmed, the original records would seldom need to be
handled.  This means you wouldn't necessarily need to "repair" the
volumes at all--rather maintain them in their current original
condition. (Depending on size, storage environment, and current
housing, protective enclosures may be appropriate.  Simply wrapping
or covering them in paper to minimize dust and light damage may be a
suitable option.)  Be wary of companies that contact *you* because
they do "archival restoration."  That may be what they think they
are doing, or what they choose to cal what it is they do.  I would be
reluctant to place a PVA adhesive on original records.  I am happy
to discuss this in greater detail.  Please feel free to contact me
directly.

Hilary A. Kaplan
Conservator
Georgia Department of Archives and History
330 Capitol Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30334
404-656-3554
Fax: 404-651-8471

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:43
                Distributed: Thursday, November 6, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-43-007
                                  ***