who here knows how to preserve very old letters, documents..

[MnFats]

..
i recently unearthed quite a number of letters to and from my great-grandparents, and others that are Civil War era.
I'm afraid to even touch them because the paper is very dry and, it seems, ready to crumble at the slightest disturbance...

anybody have any suggestions?

thnx!

[ruiner4u]

1. Nice!....

well,if you have the money there is special glass they can be framed in that will reduce the effects of UV light.. And if you are crapping money, there are some antique restorations who can frame them in a vacuum without oxygen...


However, I have some nineteenth century immigration and birth certs from germany with wax seals.. I took very big pieces of cardboard and lined with plastic wrap, layed the documents down and put a piece of parchment paper in between.. Then carefully taped up the 2 pieces of cardboard with box tape...

I look at them every now and them and they seem fine..

[trof]

2. Check with a university or museum.

Many have document preservation experts.

[pitohui]

4. what they said

however i would confess that since my old documents are of little value i just saved them as scans for future use in photoshop or any scrapbooking/college projects

[cwydro]

3. They have really old documents at the library here

and I volunteered for awhile helping them treat them with this liquid that we kind of sprayed or painted on. All I know is that it was fairly expensive, but there is such a substance.

[LostinVA]

5. Call/email up either these two resources:

the Special Collections of your nearest university library, or your local museum or historical society.

[chknltl]

6. Comic books have 2 types of preserving folders:

First off I second everyone else's' suggestions about contacting a museum about your documents.
Here are 2 options used by those who collect comic books:
One is cheap plastic and over time WILL deteriorate the contents, DO NOT USE THOSE!
The other type is a clear mylar product, a tad more pricey, (still quite cheap), yet promises to keep your comic book or document in the condition you originally placed it inside in.

[Little Wing]

7. Deep fry!

tis the season!