Storage of showcards

Anna Morgan <anna.morgan [at] guinness__com> writes

>We have a large collection of showcards in our archive. These were
>metal signs, sometimes enamelled, sometimes with cardboard laminated
>fronts.  We would like to be able to store them so they can be
>easily flicked through but I am unsure whether something like a
>secol polyester wallet would be a suitable for storage of something
>with a metal content.

For long term protection a method that is of itself more beneficial
to the item and to the way in which the item is viewed may be
preferable to direct storage in a transparent polyester (melinex,
mylar) polyweld type pocket product.

The answer could well be to infill the metal/enamelled showcards
(just as one would if one was framing a double sided item) using for
improved protection against pollutants etc a proactive quality
mounting board, such as Artcare Alpharag and then using a 1 mm UV
perspex to fill over.

The 1 mm UV perspex would provide UV protection and physical
security for the items whilst not being in direct contact with them.
The whole could then be suitably glazed and either hung, mounted in
a browser format or boxed.

Alternatively the metal showcards could be mounted into a proactive
quality board and placed in a suitable polyester pocket avoiding
direct surface contact between the semi-static polyester and the
enamelled sheet and then re-housed for added protection in a
proactive quality (such as MicroChamber) storage box.

For further information and samples contact our offices in Cowley,
England (+44 19865 747755) or in Springfield, America 800 634 6932).

Mark Vine
Conservation Resources
England

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:61
                Distributed: Wednesday, January 27, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-61-007
                                  ***