This week, our project
conservator Emily, describes some of the storage solutions she has designed to
deal with the diverse material found in the HIV/AIDS collections….
Over the past few months, I have
been blogging about the conservation of different items, such as modern papers,
plastics and media, in the HIV/AIDS collections. Each has unique conservation
problems and can be treated in isolation. However, mixed collections such as
these often need to be kept together in the original order to maintain the
primary function or intent of the material. This can be problematic as differently
sized objects made from different materials can potentially cause damage to
each other when stored in close proximity. Alternative storage conditions may also
be required for different objects.
The storage environment is of
vital importance for the longevity of the archives. Ideally, paper should be
stored at 50% (+/- 5%) relative humidity and 18°C (+/- 2°C). Plastics and media
items, however, prefer a cooler, drier environment. While it possible to move
some items to different storage conditions, this is not always suitable as it
breaks up the order of the collections and may alter interpretation of it. The
British Standard Institute suggests that mixed archival material can be stored
between 13⁰C to 20⁰C and 35% – 50% relative humidity (PD5454:2012), which
matches the conditions found in the LHSA stores. Although the conditions may
not be ideal for all items, there is an emphasis on keeping temperature low and
humidity moderate which will slow the rate of deterioration of all archival
materials.
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| The LHSA store room showing GD24 before treatment. Conditions match those stipulated by PD5454:2012 |
In the HIV/AIDS collections,
small items such as condoms, balloons and badges are frequently found between
paper documents. Having differently sized objects between sheets may
result in planar distortion of the paper and potentially cause tearing. As such, these need to be removed while still retaining their originally meaning within
the collection. To do this, I have made shallow trays that can fit at the top
of the archival box which contains the paper material from which the 3D items were
taken from. The tray has two flaps that can be used to easily lift the objects
out of the box and keep them together if the researcher does not wish to look
at them. Each object is wrapped in acid free tissue paper and clearly labelled
to show where it originally came from. A sheet of paper with a notice stating
that an item has been removed is also inserted at the item’s initial location,
so that the original order can be recreated if needed.
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| A shallow tray created to house 3D objects found within paper sheets, placed at the top of an archival box. |
Plastics used to house paper
materials, such as ring binders and poly-pockets can also cause damage as they can
release acids as they degrade, which can then migrate to the paper. However, in
some cases the plastic storage system is integral to the object. For example,
some ring binders form part of a health promotion pack that may have been taken
to schools or community groups. This type of object should be kept as it
represents a part of the object’s history and without it the original intent of
the pack may be lost. In cases such as this I have removed the paper material
from the ring binder and placed it in a triptych folder. The ring binder is then placed in a custom
made triptych folder. Often, when the papers are removed, the ring binder lies
at an extreme angle which may result in papers placed above it becoming bunched
together at one edge, causing curling. Therefore, a void-filler created from
mount board is used to even out the level of the ring binder. These two triptych
folders are then labelled appropriately and tied together with cotton tape, so it
is obvious that they belong together.
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