Labelling

Recently we have run across a problem concerning marker pens.  We
have been housing thousands of photo negatives, prints, and
transparencies recently in various sleeves, mainly from PrintFile.
We had been marking sleeves using Kaiser-Schreiber pens, but
switched to Schwan Stabilo OH-pens due to sourcing problems.  After
a few months (less than six), it was noticed that the ink from the
Schwan pens was creating a yellow halo which migrated through the
plastic onto the next sleeve or on the folder, leaving a yellow
mark.  This has only happened on the white headers of the PrintFile
sleeves using Schwan Stabilo pens.  All other combinations of
sleeves and pens fail to show this (yet).  The sleeves were stored
in folders in document cases, and were not exposed to light for any
relevant period of time.

We are interested in knowing if anyone else has encountered this
problem. PrintFile had not heard of it before, and suggested we use
Sharpie pens. However, we are not too fond of that idea.  We did
managed to find more Kaiser-Schreiber pens and are now using them
again, but we would like a less expensive alternative.  Has anyone
had experience with Identi-pens from Metal Edge, Inc., or the
film/print pen that Light Impressions offers? Also, does anyone have
an idea of what may be happening?  As best as we can tell, the
Kaiser-Schreiber pens are pigment based, and the Stabilo pens are
dye based, and that this is the basis of the problem.

Alan Van Dyke
Conservation Liaison
Department of Manuscripts and Archives
Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
The University of Texas at Austin

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:92
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 14, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-11-92-019
                                  ***