I was given some stuff by my grandfather when he died. He was a paratrooper (503rd PIR, 168th Engineers) in the Pacific Theater in MacArthur's armies. He had 5 combat jumps and 2 Purple Harts. He left me some of his medals as well as some other paper artifacts, including an Army issued map of Corregador, some Army published periodicals, and the newspapers the my grandmother had from June 4, 6, and 7 of 1944. There is also some coin money (I think Australia) and paper money (I think Philippines and currency from the occupation of Japan).
I would like to store these items properly so that they last as long as they can. They were stored in plastic (non-grocery) bags, but the paper items are starting to fall apart. Does anyone have any suggestions as to the hardware I need in order to store them properly?
Many thanks.
Are you willing to put money into this? This company is who supplies most archives, and they sell to consumers.
Army documents and periodicals I'd put in acid free folders in one of the standard hinge archival boxes. Medals I'm not totally sure how to best care for, I'd try one of their tray artifact boxes, if you call the Hollinger 1-800 and ask them I'm sure they'd advise you what's best.
Don't try to repair the documents, if they're really bad contact a paper conservator. The newspapers are most likely worthless outside of novelty so I wouldn't worry about spending money to repair them. Is there anything unique, like a diary, log book, letters?
For the coins, nothing is worth more than two dollar at least from Australia unless they are in mint/uncirculated condition. A regular cheap 2x2 would the job of protecting them fine.
The paper money is on quite a spectrum, both Philippine and Japanese Occupational are pretty common but again if it is in really good condition, and got graded in such a condition would be worth some money. Any PVC free pages or singles would be fine for their storage.
