Caring for old whiskey paper

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Caring for old whiskey paper

Unread postby bourbonv » Wed Aug 09, 2006 12:09 pm

I ahve a collection of old whiskey advertisements that was given to me by a friend who decided to narrow his focus from bourbon in general to Lexington distillers. I also have some other paper materials such as a prohibition perscription, some labels and a warehouse receipt. Being an archivist by trade I keep these materials in acid free folder and stored flat in a room that is cool and humidity controled. I thought that I might share some advise on caring for paper artifacts that might be part of your whiskey collection.

1) You must understand that paper has natural acids that will cause the paper to yellow and turn brittle. You can spend money and send this paper to a conservator who will treat it to neutralize the acid but that is expensive. Archives only do that for the most valuable of documents. They can be kept in mylar sleaves that will allow viewing but prevent damage from casual handling.

2) Sunlight speeds the damage from acid in the paper. If you frame an item, make sure it is mounted on acid free board and has uv preventive glass. Also do not hang it in direct sunlight. The best thing to do is to make a color scan of the object and frame the scanned image and store the original away.

3) Paper should be stored in acid free folders and stored flat in a humidity and temperature controled environment. A file cabinet can be used as storage if the folders are kept tight in an upright position, but gravity can cause curling or even cracks in the paper if the folder is not tightly held upright. Paper should be unfolded as much as possible before storing.

4) Binders with plastic sleeves are a cheap way to store collection but make sure the sleeves are a good quality material and if they start to yellow or get brittle, replace them.

There are some things that should be avoided at all cost.

1) "Magnetic Photo Albums" are to be avoided. These are the ones with the stick paper that holds the clear plastic down. The glue migrates into the paper and will destroy the item within a decade. It is also hard to remove the item from the album after a few years, often leading to damage from tears.

2) Scotch tape: The glue migrates to the paper and the tape yellows and disfigures as well. There are archival tapes made for those items that really need the repairs, but that should only be as a last resort.

3) Do Not Lamenate!!!! This process will eventually destroy the item as the glues in the lamenation migrate to the paper and the item con not be removed once lamenated without destroying the paper.

4) Do not expose paper to direct sunlight. Sunlight will destroy paper and fade ink. If the sun shines directly on a framed item then move it somewhere else.

I hope you find these tip helpful.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Unread postby bourbonv » Mon Aug 14, 2006 9:16 am

Having done some research on ebay this past weekend on whiskey magazine advertisments, I thought I should do something about the value of the pages here.

It seems that an old magazine advertisement will sell for between $2.00 and $10.00 on ebay. There may be some higher prices if the brand is popular and the advertisement is particularly nice and colorfull. They do make nice framed pieces for a bar.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Re: Caring for old whiskey paper

Unread postby bourbonv » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:30 am

I saw a collection of labels the other day that were being stored in one of those "Magnetic" albums and the they were ruined.The rubbery material had soaked through the labels discoloring them and making it impossible to get them out of the album. It is a shame because some of them were 70 years old.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Re: Caring for old whiskey paper

Unread postby MJL » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:14 pm

Very interesting. As a coincidence I recently received some training in museum preservation techniques of paper, fibers, wood, metals, plastics and composite materials as a part of my graduate studies. You are correct in your advice but I would add that you can find an anti-acid spray to use on papers to neutralize the acids in the paper. As well, I was amazed to find that they regularly change the acid free backing paper as the acids tend to leach out. I saw this with my own eyes. After several years and several changes of acid free backing papers a substantial amount of acid has been removed from the original item via leachate. These acid free papers and even the anti-acid spray are available and should be easy to use for amateurs. Use white cotton gloves to handle these items to prevent acids, sweat and fats from your hand getting on the paper items. These gloves are found at places like Granger's.
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Re: Caring for old whiskey paper

Unread postby bourbonv » Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:19 pm

Very good points MJL, but I should point out about gloves and manuscripts (paper items for the most part) - There are two schools of thought about wearing gloves. The first is the one you pointed out about wearing them to prevent acids and oils from the fingers from getting on the paper. The other school of thought and this is the one the Filson uses, is that gloves can do more harm than the good they do preventing the oils and such from getting on the paper. The lack of finger dexterity makes it more likely that they paper will be accidentally torn in handling. At the Filson, the manuscripts are handled without gloves, but we enforce a policy of keeping the document flat on the table when in use and to handle it as little as possible.

I see the value of both sides of the issue and would say wear gloves if you feel comfortable doing so, but if not, then handle the manuscript as little as possible. The safest way to preserve them is to place the document in a mylar sleave so it can be handled without being touched.
Mike Veach
"Our people live almost exclusively on whiskey" - E H Taylor, Jr. 25 April 1873
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Re: Caring for old whiskey paper

Unread postby Bas » Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:38 pm

use a pincet (tweasers-tweesers ?? whatever).
Used them for my stamp collection a looooong time ago. There are also special plastic sleeves to keep big sheets of stamps in. They would be perfect to keep your add in. The plastic is designed not to effect the paper.
Where to buy? Try a stamp-and coinshop.
--just a thought--
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