The Acid-Free Conundrum: Selecting Archival Materials for Your Collection

Proper storage of materials and documents is crucial to all collecting projects. For those of us who enthusiastically assert and investigate the cultural and historical significance of something as physically dynamic and vulnerable as flags, the necessity of preservation cannot be overstated. An important part of safe storage is using materials that do not cause further damage. Direct contact between an artifact and its container or a container and its immediate physical environment can cause damage. The shelf that the box rests on, if wooden, can also affect the archival integrity of the box over time. Poor quality materials can cause acidity, off-gas, and discoloring, among other effects, that deteriorate collections. To prevent these types of damages, good quality and acid-free material should be used.

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