Preserving Antique Videotapes

All across the country, families have unique videotapes of family activities and events that provide a valuable record of their pasts.  These videotapes may look sturdy in their cumbersome plastic cases but the magnetic tape inside them is fairly vulnerable.  So what do you do to preserve your videotapes now that technology has passed them by?  (Put them into storage with your equally unwieldy eight-track tapes?)

Unfortunately, the subject of videotape preservation is inextricably tied into the need for preservation of the playback equipment.  A pristine videotape is of little value without a VCR to play it on.  Above all, you want to ensure that the content of these videotapes remains accessible.

Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, recommends reformatting the video content to a more accessible medium.  Currently this means digitizing the video so the content can be accessed on a DVD.  Then you can simply pop the disc into the DVD player whenever you like (leaving your VCR in eternal storage).

But even though the digitized material is now accessible, the original videotape still has value.  Laura maintains that you should make an effort to preserve the original videotape.  Put them in long-term storage.  And as part of the storage process, she reminds me that you should always remove the record tab from the side of the cassette.  Just snap it off.  This way you or your descendents will never be in danger of accidentally recording over a unique tape.

The original videotape should be stored upright in a plastic (rather than cardboard) video box.  And be careful with temperature and humidity, Laura warns.  High humidity is bad for videotapes;  freezing temperatures are bad, too.  Temperatures between 40 and 70 degrees are best.

Save the original.  Save the copy.  And be ready to save to the next medium when it arrives, rendering DVD or Blu-ray as obsolete as today’s videotapes.

© 2011 Lee Price

Temperature and Humidity Concerns

The house in Florida, garage on the left.

When my parents moved to Florida, the family collection went with them.  Most of the items were kept inside the house where temperature and humidity levels were fairly constant.  These items fared well.  But other items landed in long-term temporary storage in the garage where they were exposed to Florida’s high temperatures and high humidity.  Consequently, they suffered.

“Temperature and relative humidity are major concerns in preservation,” according to Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts.  “A garage in cold weather isn’t too bad for storage.  But high temperatures can lead to degradation.

“Humidity is an even greater concern,” Laura says.  “You don’t want the storage environment to be either too damp or too dry.  Ideally, the relative humidity should be no less than 35% and no greater than 65%.”  When it’s too dry, the paper can become brittle and when it’s too humid, it can become excessively floppy, as

Acid-free folders and boxes offering
layers of protection.

well as increasing the risk for mold growth.

The conditions that are most comfortable for people tend to be best for collections.  “Spring and fall weather is where collections are happiest,” Laura notes.  To protect against the extremes, she recommends using layers of protection.  Place items within folders or sleeves then place the folders within boxes (everything acid-free, of course!) and the acid-free boxes can go inside plastic containers.  The layers help to mitigate damage that might be caused by unexpected changes in temperature or humidity.

© 2011 Lee Price

Hanging Pictures With Care

Original photograph of
my grandfather.

Even though deep down I feel like it’s cheating, I’ll endorse this advice nevertheless:  Put the original photograph in storage and display the facsimile.  Except for you, no one will know the difference.  And your descendents will thank you.

Exposure to light will change the original photo.  Therefore, put the original someplace safe – preferably a dark place where temperature and humidity are at appropriate and fairly constant levels.

The great thing is that facsimiles don’t have to be treated with that level of care.  Except for the expense of creating them, you can even consider them disposable.  This means that you can display the facsimile in sunlight. 
Or you can hang it over a heating vent. Don’t worry.  
It’s replaceable.

A digitized image awaits matting
and framing.

Most homes – including ours – display a mix of original material and high-grade copies (facsimiles, prints, etc.).  I asked Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, for pointers on “best practice” display of photographs, art on paper, and other items sensitive to light, humidity, and temperature fluctuations.  Here’s what Laura recommends:

1.  Invest in high quality facsimiles.  Hang them wherever you like and preserve the originals in long-term storage.

2.  Consider high quality framing for original items, with UV glazing to serve as a level of protection from the light and a sealed package with zeolites to protect from humidity.

3.  Hang any original artwork in areas of the house with minimal light exposure and some assurance of stable temperature and humidity.

© 2011 Lee Price

Beautiful Hardwood Bookshelves

Metal shelves are fine for the bulk of collections storage – for all those items you want to keep but don’t need to be immediately accessible.  In our house, our books need to be accessible and therefore we need bookcases.  Personally, I love the look of a finely made bookcase.

Our 2008 flood experience (toilet supply line break on second floor resulting in water damage in 12 rooms) threatened our books but, miraculously, we only suffered one loss – a Mennonite hymnal left on the ruined piano.  So I guess we owe a debt of gratitude to our cheap particle board bookcases (IKEA and the equivalent) which took the brunt of the water onslaught while effectively sheltering the books.  In assessing the damage, the water-damaged bookcases were labeled trash.

Thanks to my wife’s impressive skills at working Craigslist, we were able to upgrade to some nice hardwood bookcases.  When we moved back into the house, our family room featured a set of new (secondhand) bookcases nestled on the new carpet.

Discussing my preservation concerns with Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, I take the opportunity to boast about our handsome new family room.  She isn’t as impressed as I had hoped.  “You have to be careful with offgassing,” she says.  “The bookcases can offgas and so does a new carpet.  After installing a carpet, it’s best to give it time to settle down and offgas before bringing in collection items.”

Offgassing is the release of acid chemicals into the air.  “That beautiful fragrant smell of a cedar bookcase is really offgassing,” Laura says.  “So is the smell of a new carpet.”  The acid chemicals can migrate into the items, especially paper-based objects like books.  This interior pollution can accelerate processes of discoloration and brittleness.

Laura recommends that hardwood bookcases should always be finished and treated with a sealant.  This significantly reduces the amount of offgassing.  In addition, she suggests laying sheets of mylar on the shelves that can act as an inert barrier between the books and the wood.

As for our old particle board bookcases, Laura says they really weren’t so bad.  “The particle board and exterior grade plywood bookcases offgas some but tend to be less of a concern than many of the hardwoods.”

© 2011 Lee Price

Practical Shelving Advice

Whether your family collection is stored in an unfinished basement or in a palatial library setting (my favorite is the Beast’s library in the Disney Beauty and the Beast), your collection should not be stored on the floor.  This is a standing order from Laura Hortz Stanton, Director of Preservation Services at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts.  Laura says:  “Get it off the floor.”

According to Laura, boxes or collection items that are stored on the floor:

1.      Are easy to stumble over, potentially causing damage to the items and to the stumbler.

2.      Are directly in the line of pests, such as silverfish, cockroaches, termites, mice, squirrels, and other collection-devouring vermin.

3.      Are vulnerable to flooding.

The last point particularly hits home with me.  Three years ago, a toilet supply line broke in our second-floor bathroom, causing water damage throughout the house, including rooms on the second floor.  Therefore, I can vouch from personal experience that items on the second floor are no less vulnerable to water damage than items in the basement.  You don’t need three inches of water to cause trouble.  A cardboard box on the floor will happily soak up a drink from a water-logged carpet with potentially ruinous results.

Laura’s standard advice for museums, libraries, archives, and historic sites applies to owners of family collections as well.  Boxes and items should be stored at least four inches off the floor.  This is practical advice, too, because placing the items on shelves decreases the amount of collection space needed in the house.

Sophisticated collecting institutions like large museums and academic libraries often use mobile compact shelving systems that are masterpieces of efficiency.  They look great.  Unfortunately, they’re also beyond the budgets of most family collections…

Prestigious art and history museums often use powder-coated metal shelving, a widely-recognized industry standard for preservation.  It’s a smart investment.  Unfortunately, it’s also an investment beyond the budgets of most family collections…

So here’s what Laura suggests:  Go ahead and use commercial grade shelving.  But since these shelves can get a little tacky, cover the surface of each shelf with a layer of acid-free board or mylar.  Wire shelving is okay for boxes, but be careful not to place objects directly on it.  The wire surface can cause long-term damage.

For larger items that don’t fit neatly on the shelves, Laura still insists they should be elevated off the floor by at least

four inches.  “At the very least, put it on a palette or a riser,”

Laura says.

© 2011 Lee Price

The Preservation Needs Assessment

I could really use a preservation needs assessment.

Our expert team of preservation professionals at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) conduct a couple of dozen preservation needs assessments each year at museums, libraries, historic sites, and archives.  But these are for institutions, not private homes.  And that’s too bad because I think I could really benefit from one.

A preservation needs assessment is an evaluation of the policies, practices, and conditions in an institution.  It looks at the collections care environment (temperature, relative humidity, pollution, and light);  strategies for housekeeping, pest control, fire protection, security and disaster preparedness;  and procedures for handling, exhibition, and treatment.

While I won’t be getting a full preservation needs assessment (no such luck!), I have asked Laura Hortz Stanton, CCAHA Director of Preservation Services, for advice in a number of these areas and will be sharing her recommendations over the next two

Laura Hortz Stanton.

weeks.  I approached her with questions about bookcases and other shelving, home display of items, temperature and humidity concerns, and long-term storage.

In attempting to care for a family collection, you gain a real appreciation for the challenges that small historical societies and other collecting institutions face as they endeavor to preserve their collections.  It’s not easy!  And the biggest problem always seems to be determining where to start.  You can count on preservation professionals like Laura to bring much needed clarity to a complex subject.

© 2011 Lee Price