The major contributors to the damage of documents are:
DAMP AND MOISTURE
Documents should be stored in dry areas, which are secure against plumbing failures or rainwater entry.
Dampness will dramatically increase the rate of deterioration of paper based materials, cause emulsions on photographs to run, and encourage the growth of mould and insect infestations.
INSECT PESTS
Cockroaches, rodents, silverfish, mould and other organisms will consume paper and badly stain documents. Papers should stored in clean, dust free areas away from food preparation or storage areas, and away from storage areas for cloth or clothes.
Documents and their storage should be inspected regularly for signs of insects and moulds. Storage cupboards can be lightly treated with mild fumigants or insect repellants. The documents themselves or their storage boxes should not be directly treated with repellants as this will stain and damage documents.
LIGHT
Ideally documents and photographs should be stored in the dark. Light, especially sunlight, will dramatically increase the rate of deterioration due to the acids held in paper products. The lower the quality of the paper, the faster the rate of deterioration. A newspaper, for instance, left in the sun for just a day will yellow and begin to deteriorate.
DUST AND PARTICLE MATTER
Dusty conditions will increase the likelihood of insect infestation, cause friction damage to paper products, promote the deterioration of paper with high acid content, and stain documents.
Documents should be stored in containers with lids to keep out dust, then in closed cupboards or cabinets. Dusty documents can be lightly dusted with a fine paintbrush prior to filing.
DAMAGE BY HANDLING
Handling documents increases the risk of damage due to tearing, wear or theft. When working with documents, it is a good practice to use pencils rather than pens to minimize the chance of ink damage. Handling needs to be done under clean, dust-free conditions and away from direct sunlight or food preparation areas.
Documents that need to be handled often can be photocopied and the photocopy used as the reference source.
You should avoid handing over originals of family archives to researchers or others who wish to use the documents. The documents are your property and you can decide whether of not they can be used for research, and whether their use should be restricted. You may decide they can be consulted in their normal repository under supervision or you may decide to provide copies.
PAPER ACIDS
Ideally paper should be Ph negative, that is to have a balance between alkaline or acid content that is slightly alkaline. Most papers, however, tend to contain acids that will eventually weaken and yellow their fibres so that they will eventually fall apart. The poorer the quality of the paper, the more likely they will contain acid and therefore deteriorate. Newspapers especially contain high acid levels and tend to deteriorate the fastest.
Older papers will show evidence of acid damage: small yellow blotches usually up to the size of a five-cent piece known as "foxing".
Glues and boards used to bind books and affix items to other paper also tend to be acidic and will increase the rate of deterioration.
The deterioration due to acid content can be delayed by storing papers in dark, dry conditions.
Newspaper clippings (especially those glued to other pieces of paper) should have a photocopy made on reasonable quality paper. Even though photocopying paper also has some acid content, it will last much longer than newsprint.
The migration of acids from the boards, or covers, can be prevented by placing sheets of PVA plastics between the boards and the body of the book.
STORAGE
Documents should be stored in PVA plastic containers with lids to keep out dust. Archive boxes are also suitable and those acquired from reputable suppliers tend to have reasonable acid levels. The interior of boxes can be lined with PVA plastic to stop the acid migrating from containers to documents.
Metal pins, staples and fasteners should be removed from documents prior to storage and if needed replaced with plastic paper clips. Metal will tend to rust or corrode and damage documents.
Storage boxes should then be stored in closed cupboards or cabinets. Wooden cabinets are ideal because they tend to corrode less and survive longer in fires. However, you need to ensure that acids in the woods or paint finishes are stable and will not migrate through containers to the documents. As an added precaution, the shelves on which boxes sit can be lined with a PVA material.
Do not use PVC plastics (they are the softer form of plastic. PVA has a more brittle appearance but has a much longer archival life), because in time the PVC will corrode and release oils that damage documents. Adhesive photo albums with PVC are very poor storage. Modern PVA 'slip-in' albums are better storage.
Sheets of PVA are available from plastic wholesalers, though tend to be expensive and arranging material with PVA is time consuming and requires a certain amount of skill. Marbig PVA document sleeves are a handy and cheap method of storing A4 sized documents.
Large bundles of papers should not be stored in one box or on top of each other. The weight of many documents will damage papers and increase the likelihood of damage during handling. Storage boxes should not be stacked upon each other, but stored on individual shelves.
Constant changes to temperature and humidity will increase the deterioration of documents. This can be minimized by storage in PVA or cardboard containers, which can then stored in a closed cupboard. The mass of the storage material will provide a buffer against temperature and humidity changes.
REPAIRS
Removing acids from papers is a very expensive and skilled process and is usually only undertaken by major archives for the most important of state documents. Holders of archival material need to accept that papers have acids that will eventually destroy them and therefore need to adopt strategies that minimize the damage, or copy material onto more stable formats such as photocopying, electronic scanning, or microfilming.
Documents can be dusted with a fine paintbrush to remove dust.
Lampshade cleaners (small pads containing pulverized india rubber) can be used to gently clean non-essential documents. The cleaning and repair of essential documents might be best left to experts.
Do not use sticky-tape or other adhesives to repair documents. The glues will very quickly damage papers. Sticky tape can be gently removed from documents using cotton pads and eucalyptus oil, though this is generally best undertaken by a skilled technician.
Do not laminate important documents. This form of storage is irreversible and the glues and plastics used in the process will eventually destroy the document.
Irreplaceable photographs or documents should not be framed and hung in display except under the most stringent gallery conditions. It is better to frame and hang copies and store the originals under the best archival conditions available.
Archival repair-tape can be purchased to join torn parts of documents and then can be removed without damaging paper. However using it is a slow process and requires some skill.
Conclusion
To prolong the life of documents in family archives, you should:
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