How Provenance looks at preservation and deacidification issues
Preservation of valued books, papers, and various paper-based artifacts involves many issues besides the acidity of the paper on which they are printed. In general, these issues are based on insuring a balance between the security and integrity of stored items while maintaining their accessibility for scholars and readers of documents in their original form.
A primary response to the lack of cost effective deacidification options has been to maintain environmental conditions during storage at carefully controlled [low] temperatures and relative humidity. While such steps reduce rates of oxidation and acid degradation in stored items, they do not eliminate those processes and they do lead to restrictions on access to stored items. The deterioration-prone nature of virtually all of the paper manufactured between 1800 and the late 1900s is a consequence of the papermaking technologies and the acid pulps used during that period. These issues and the permanence of paper in general have been reviewed and are available here as a download.
Because of the deterioration in books and papers derived from acid based pulps under normal—as well as controlled—storage conditions, neutralizing the acids present and interdicting the environmental acids which are responsible for this deterioration need to be a primary component of any preservation program. Thus, strategies and well thought out programs to achieve this goal and address the range of materials needing treatment are important.
Important Issues
Fortunately a great deal is known about both the processes which lead to paper deterioration and ways to interdict those processes. back to top
Background Information on Deacidification
In terms of research in these areas, the peer-reviewed literature is replete with articles and treatises on this subject. A good place to begin a review of this literature is the Conservation Online website where academic, research and practical issues facing those with an interest in conservation are considered. back to top
Interest in Deacidification Technology
Here at Provenance the efforts to develop new deacidification technology began after a careful review of levels of interest about 10 years ago. Manifestations of that interest included a keynote meeting at the National Archives (NARA) in Washington, DC, which was attended by hundreds of interested professionals from institutions all over the world. Other well attended meetings have also taken place on the subject in the UK and elsewhere in Europe were and remain high Since the NARA meeting at the end of the last decade, however, little has changed with respect to mass deacidification: stated interest in deacidification and deacidification technology remain high but the mass deacidification processes available today continue to be utilized in volume by a single national library, and by other research libraries and archives only for their most valuable items.
During the same period, beginning in the 1990’s, electronic preservation efforts boomed as the impact of the internet has grown. Rather than seeing such electronic preservation efforts as an alternate to preservation of original volumes, we see an opportunity: every time a book is taken off a shelf, for digitization - or even for binding- there is an opportunity to preserve the original and preserving that original in a value engineered way is what the bottom line should be!back to top
Treating Technologies
As noted above, successful deacidification approaches need to be tailored through appropriate application methods and engineering problem to the items needing treatment. For individual, high value items, existing examples from the first and third classes cited above can be used in a work room environment.
The issue gets complicated: discussions related to funding approaches and associated paradigms consider when large numbers of bound and unbound documents need to be treated. The reviews cited above describe available approaches finding limited use in the US and Europe. However, the cost requirements for offsite treating and complexity of these processes have prevented their widespread use. back to top
Approaches at Provenance LLC
Deacidification of Single Artifacts and Documents
Individual documents needing deacidification in your workroom or conservation laboratory can be treated using PaperSaver products applied directly from an aerosol can or from a refillable pump spray unit or with in-house [commercially available] spray equipment. For only a few items or pages, such treatments will provide the most cost-effective approach available for quality and reliability. For oversized items and or large volumes of items use of PaperSaver bulk treating formulations are most cost-effective. back to top
Mass Deacidification
Regarding the question of those 80,000,000 pages of paper needing treatment, Provenance is working on a solution. In 2006 we completed a prototype manuscript treater and are currently testing to confirm the effectiveness and scalability of the system. By 2007 we anticipate having demonstration units operating at several sites in the US. At the same time we will be pushing ahead with a book-treating unit. Common features of these machines will be use of nanoparticle based dry aerosol treating technologies. These can operate at your storage facility using available utilities and physical plant without risk of fire or explosion. They will not involve liquids or the necessity to ship your books and papers hundreds of miles for treatment putting them at risk and taking them out of circulation as well.
Graphic examples of the effects of the developmental PaperSaver MDA treatments are shown in the accompanying scanning electron micrographs and the technical library includes test results of interest. back to top
