Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:37:51 -0600 Message-ID: <eeea499a1001190937u2fa6ae1v42cf7a0f73afc76e@mail.gmail.com> Subject: Re: Help--Suggestions! From: Russell Hanson <riverroadrambler@gmail.com>
Generally newspapers are made from acidic paper and deteriorate and brown
quickly. You should make a working copy by using a digital camera in
closeup mode to copy the pages in full or part. Using a camera to copy
photos and documents is less damaging to the original than scanning them.
With an average digital camera you can make very good quality digital
copies of most anything, quickly and easily. Using a tripod helps if the
lighting is low, but most of the time you just hold the camera over the page
and snap. Set your camera to the highest resolution (most megapixels).
Then you print out the copy and use that for display or reading and put
the original very carefully in
in an acid-free box. I would separate the pages with acid free paper too.
Clippings should be stored in acid-free file folders, interleaved with
acid-free paper.
Once you have a good quality digital copy of the original, I would just
put it away if you want to preserve it. I mostly care about the content for
newspapers so a nice printed copy is fine. For photos and negatives, it is
good to try to preserve the originals, as you digital copies may not be as
good as the original.
Most good quality bond paper is acid free, including the computer paper, but
rarely does it tell you that. You can test it yourself by buying a PH
testing pen from Amazon or other places for under $10 or taking distilled
water and some PH strips from your garden store and grind some paper up, mix
in the water and test it that way for a neutral PH of 7.
Russ Hanson Luck Area Historical Society Polk County WI
We Googlized two of our out-of-print local history books and a booklet to
make them available to everyone in the whole world for free!! Check them
out at
http://books.google.com/books?id=bwhLB0o_kXcC&dq=stories+of+the+trade+river+valley&source=gbs_navlinks_s
http://books.google.com/books?id=7EQV1CQ2uSMC&dq=stories+of+the+st+croix+river+road&source=gbs_navlinks_s
<http://books.google.com/books?id=7EQV1CQ2uSMC&dq=stories+of+the+st+croix+river+road&source=gbs_navlinks_s>
http://books.google.com/books?id=Gns8EScnF5sC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 1:55 PM, Cambria Friesland Historical Society <
cfhistsoc@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Recently we have been given a copy of the first Cambria Newspaper--The
> Cambria Journal--10-18-1882--Volume One. It is in very delicate condition
> and believe it can't be laminated--it is only 3 pages long. Is there a way
> of preserving it "for a while ?" I am aware how newspapers deteriorate. Any
> suggestions would be appreciated. Jay Williams, President
>