Are plastic sleeves OK for historical documents?

by Gnaedigefrau

I hope this is the right subreddit for this. Anyhow, I have the family letters from the 1860's to the 1930's, and I have them in binders in plastic sleeves. I just read about acid free paper folders etc, so I'm wondering if I should switch. I'm just thinking the plastic sleeves aren't acidic.

pattlestat

You ideally want archival polyester sleeves with UV protection. Usually these are mylar, but not all mylar is archival.

Non-archival plastics can be coated, will break-down over time into mildly corrosive compounds, and don't offer UV protection.

Then best practice is to keep those documents in an acid-free file folder, and then keep those folders in an acid-free archival box.

And if these documents are stored vertically rather than horizontally, you want to make sure that they can't 'sag' in the box. Otherwise they'll acquire a curve that doesn't readily come out. Archival document support spacers are the way to keep things fully upright.