How do you preserve your personal collections? In this post, Archives Specialist James shows us how he maintains his personal collection of concert posters. The hardest part is protecting the poster while still at the concert, as you can see some posters get damaged in the process.
Once the poster is safe at home, James uses an oversized archival folder to store and help flatten the poster. These archival folders are acid and lignin free, helping to protect the poster for as long as possible.
He also uses archival cotton bond paper to interleave each poster. Interleaving prevents the posters from touching, helping to avoid the “bleeding” of inks. With no environmental protections in place, the hot southern California summers hurt the posters’ longevity, which sometimes keeps James up at night!
For questions on preservation, please visit the National Archives and Northeast Document Conservation Center
