archival storage and protection for laserjet/inkjet/xerox material?

October 26, 2014 12:56 PM

Looking for acid-free non-plastic translucent or transparent sleeves or envelopes to fit folded printed paper PDF event tickets of various sizes and similar containers for digest-size and legal-digest (7 x 8.5 in ) xerox zines. Any leads? Details follow.

Prompted by this, I am archiving and properly storing all my ephemera. The Magic deck is indeed worth some care and investment, and was the easiest thing to figure out how to manage.

However, I have a couple of categories of things that are unlikely to have resale value but which I want to store properly for my own satisfaction. They fall roughly into two categories: recently-printed paper tickets originally delivered as PDFs on both laserprinters and inkjets, and thirty-year-old 'zines, originally printed using xerox machines.

Adapting card-collection strategies to the laserjet and xerox stuff seems dumb, as the toner will stick after a few years. I think what I want are appropriately sized acid-free translucent paper envelopes, which were the storage standard for stamp-related ephemera in the 1970s. However, given the lack of resale value and consistent size for the tickets, I have not found the right product for them, nor for the zines.

Google has been unhelpful in uncovering niche communities exploring these needs. How about you, Hive Mind?

posted by mwhybark to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

Response by poster: oh yeah, the inclusion of the 'zines is prompted by receiving an out of the blue request for one of my 'zine collections from a major university, which I interpret to mean that I should be taking better care of the material.
posted by mwhybark at 12:59 PM on October 26, 2014

Bags Unlimited is a good source for these sorts of things.
posted by hydrophonic at 7:33 PM on October 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

For archival products, I use these sites: Gaylord, Hollinger Metal Edge, Talas and University Products.
posted by jeri at 11:33 PM on October 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: At my archives we do a lot of enclosure in Mylar envelopes that have one open side so as not to trap acidic byproducts of decay. I've never heard of toner degradation causing problems or reacting with Mylar. However, you would also be just fine placing each item in a lignin free buffered file folder and putting the folders in archival quality document boxes. These are available at the sites listed by Jeri. For the "niche community" exploring these needs, it's basically the whole archival profession. The "Collections Care" section of the very useful Preservation 101 website is a good place to start. National Park Service ConservOGrams are also good free resources.
posted by CheeseLouise at 10:39 AM on October 27, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: So basically non-sealable contemporary comic bags and boards for individual bagging will be fine if they are mylar. I guess my experiences with toner lift were with vinyl, which I had thought was the same substance as mylar but is not.

By extension, mylar card sleeves and storage products should be acceptable as well.
posted by mwhybark at 12:57 PM on October 27, 2014