Category:4. Physical storage

All the necessary information to make your paper archive survive the test of time.

When you preserve an archive or collection, you hope it will last as long as possible. However, various factors can make this quite challenging. Paper can become acidic over the years, archive rooms can get dusty, pests might be attracted to your archive, a pipe might leak causing water damage, or your organisation might close down, putting your archive at risk of being lost... To minimise the risks of (information) loss or damage, there are several guidelines you can follow. We list a few of them in this article.

The section ‘Setting up your storage area’ delves into the different types of risk factors that can occur when preserving your collection. It also informs you about what you can do to mitigate these risks.

Perhaps you are looking for ways to repurpose your archive. The article ‘A new storage place for your archive and collections’ examines the types of repurposing and tells you where you can go to give your archive a new home.

The section ‘Preserving materials in your physical archive’ discusses the storage options for different types of documents such as newspapers and photographs, but also for objects and textiles. These are not always preserved in the same way as paper and require a specific approach.

Finally, in ‘Packaging materials’, you will find out what types there are, what they are used for, and where you can order them.