Caring for old documents

by BullUK

Hi guys

Appologies as I know this is a little off topic, but I imagine there's a few people here who know about this kind of thing and I'm not sure where else to ask.

I live in an old weaver's cottage and am lucky enough to have various original documents from the building's history, the oldest of which is around 200 years old. You can see some of them here

I'd like to make a display of one of the documents by framing it and hanging it in the dining room but I'm worried about it getting damaged or faded by light. I was wondering if anyone had experience of framing such documents and protecting them. Maybe there's a protective glass I can buy for the photo frame or maybe I can have them treated with a chemical etc.

Just to be clear, the documents don't have any historical significance but I really like them and would hate to damage them after they've been cared for all these years.

Thanks

caffarelli

UV light filtering glass is very expensive and not bulletproof light protection, unfortunately. We almost never use them in archives land, outside of very special situations where the originals need to be in constant display, like things in Washington DC. There is not a single thing in a UV frame at my archives, we do have UV filters on the bulbs in our display cases, but the items in those rotate, and for anything too important we put up "Surrogates" aka scans. UV is also not the only damaging part of light, other wavelengths will also damage paper (or your furniture, if you have watched a couch fade in the sun) over time. UV is just the strongest damaging light wavelength.

The unsexy answer - if I were you I'd scan them up, print them up nice at Pop Copy, and frame the fakes in some cheap frames!

karnerblu

If possible when you display them make sure it's out of direct sunlight. That's what causes the most fading. If you wanted to preserve them the longest you could cycle it. Have it on display for a few months, and then stick them in a drawer or something for a while. The list damage that paper (and anything really) is cumulative and irreversible so just keep that in mind. Your best bet is to get them professionally matted and framed. Archival/acidfree mat board is best and alot of framing shops will have this in Stock (though sometimes it actually isn't archival, if you're unsure you can purchase acid free mat board from gaylord.com) a metal frame is best, that way you won't have to worry about off gassing from a wood frame. Plexiglass is best for glazing, and I believe most plexi has a UV film, if not that may be something that gaylord.com also carries. I work in a museum and deal with alot of conservation issues with artifacts, hope it helps.

BullUK

Thanks guys

Not really the answers I was hoping for but very helpful none the less. Better to know before hand that it can't be done than to find out afterwards that I ruined them.