Binder's board

Ursula Kolmstetter <ukolmstetter [at] ima-art__org> writes

>... assumed that they are acid-free. But they are not.  Our conservator
>for works on paper did a test and found that they are not acid-free.
>We called the company. They told us that the boards contain some
>kind of buffer to keep the (containing) acidity from reacting.

This is in response to the inquiry by Ursula about the binders'
board used to make boxes.  I summarized most of the data available
in an article I published in Museum Management and Curatorship, on
this subject titled, "The Solander box: its varieties and its role
as an archival unit of storage for prints and drawings in a museum,
archive or gallery", 1993:v. 12, pp. 387-400.  We did note that many
of the older boxes made of binders' board in the collection did not
show signs of degradation, but then these boxes had been made 30 to
60 years prior and their manufacturers were, with few exceptions, no
longer in existence.  I believe a number of ad hoc studies have been
done by photographic conservators using experimental procedures
based on the Oddy test for storage materials.

Niccolo Caldararo
Director and Chief Conservator
Conservation Art Service

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:9
                  Distributed: Thursday, July 22, 1999
                        Message Id: cdl-13-9-004
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