How to care for paper

The best advice is always to:

• Avoid or minimise risks from conditions such as fire, flood, theft, or pests of from unsuitably hot or damp conditions. In particular, avoid storage in attics or cellars where threats to the survival of papers may go undetected and cannot be easily monitored.

• Stabilise and protect papers in your care by keeping them in suitable archival quality albums and sleeves.

• Always use acid-free materials and never use storage albums such as the self-adhesive type.

• Never attempt to repair damaged documents. The use of self-adhesive tape such as Sellotape is highly damaging as it causes chemical reactions to records on paper. It is better to protect damaged paper material inside archival quality inert Secol sleeves where material is totally protected and can be viewed.

Simple preservation measures you can take include:

• Use archival quality inert Secol sleeves and albums for your collection. These sleeves and albums come in a large variety of sizes. It is possible to buy a ring binder album and then to mix items such as handbills, postcards and tickets in standard-size album pages. Secol sleeves and albums can be purchased from companies such as Preservation Equipment or Conservation Resources.

• Use only brass paper clips (clips made of other metals tend to rust) to hold small numbers of related papers together.

• Carefully remove metal paper clips, staples, pins and rubber bands where this can be done without damage. Unbleached archival tape made of cotton or linen can be used to preserve original bundles of papers or can be used to keep detached bindings together on books. Tape can be purchased from companies such as Preservation Equipment or Conservation Resources.

• Keep all papers flat and unfolded in archival-quality boxes or albums of appropriate size.

• Ensure that direct sunlight or powerful artificial light doesn't fall onto paper material. Material should be suitable protected by blinds and/or boxing.

• Try to keep material in a stable environment which is not too hot or humid: this will promote their long-term preservation. Temperatures rising significantly above 19 degress centrigrade on a regular basis or relative humidity significantly exceeding 60% can be particularly damaging to paper and should be avoided. In a domestic environment, paper material is best kept in a cool damp-free room where the air can circulate.

How to care for photographs

• Never touch the surface of negatives. Always wear archival cotton gloves and handle negatives on the edges.

• Store photos in a cool, dry and stable environment, avoiding light, dust, pollutants and insects.

• Take particular care with glass plates, ensuring they do not break.

• Use archival quality storage boxes made of card and ensure photographic images are sufficiently supported.

• Never stack glass plates; store them vertically on edge along their longest side, well-supported and individually wrapped in acid-free (eg tradename Silversafe) 4-flap enclosures.

• Never use self-adhesive albums. Always use archival quality albums.

• Avoid acidic and plastic, polythene, polyethylene, PVC packaging materials, coloured enclosures, rubber bands, glue and glued flaps, sellotape, paper clips, staples and drawing pins when storing photographs.

• Aim to use archival quality packaging materials that are specifically created for photographic images, including albums and photographic mounting corners i.e. Melinex or Mylar clear sleeves.

• Ensure outsized, large, delicate or damaged photographic images are adequately supported when handling them.

• Never try to force two photographs apart.

• Avoid polishing/cleaning smears from transparencies, negatives or glass plates.

• Use only 2B pencils for any writing on the reverse of prints; lay the print on a hard board before writing on the back.

• Don't store cellulose nitrate based negatives (all negatives made before c1952), which are very unstable and in extreme cases can self-ignite; take them to your local record office for copying or advice.

• Be alert to acid decay or 'vinegar syndrome' (identified by a strong vinegar smell), and if detected, avoid breathing the fumes, isolate the affected material and seek specialist help as a priority (NB the noxious fumes are a health hazard).

Tips and advice on caring for your paddle steamer collection

• Light whether natural or artificial can cause damage to most objects.

• Temperature and humidity will have an impact on how quickly an object will age. High temperature and little moisture in the air will cause certain materials to crack, and too damp an atmosphere will cause mould to grow. It is better not to store objects in a loft, garage, shed or near a direct heat source such as a radiator.

• If storing any item for safekeeping it is always worth remembering about what it is stored in. Acid-free tissue paper and boxes protect against damage. Plastic containers are not always suitable especially plastic garment bags as they can cause discolouration. Acid-free tissue and storage boxes for a variety of 3D objects can be easily obtained from conservation materials suppliers.

• Certain insects can cause damage to many objects such as wood, paper and textiles. These materials are particularly vulnerable to attack from clothes moth, wood worm and silver fish. Traditional methods of preventing insect damage such as lavender bags and cedar wood balls can be effective but vigilance is the best deterrent.

• Surface dust can have an impact on certain objects. Dust is acidic and if left in place for a long time can be very difficult to remove completely and can damage the object. Remove dust carefully by brushing the surface of an object lightly with a soft bristle brush.

• No matter how tempting, cleaning can cause problems so consider if it is safe to clean an object without damage occurring. Always test a polish or cleaner on an unobtrusive area of an object in case of problems. If cleaning metal items such as silver, check that residues from cleaners are not allowed to build up in crevices. Never over-clean otherwise surface finishes, makers marks and the object itself can be damaged. If washing ceramics or glass always take care to protect objects from hard surfaces such as sinks and taps by using a soft cloth around the bottom of the sink and take care with proprietry cleaners. If in doubt, don't do anything!

• If an item is damaged it is not advisable to rush in to repair it. Poor repairs can cause more problems for an object.

• If you need to handle or move a fragile or heavy object from one place to another, make sure it is well supported and that the way through is clear. Accidents can happen if thought isn’t given to careful handling.