[78-L] ^what archival really means

[Jeffrey Lichtman]

We've all seen old sleeves that crumble and fall apart due to age. 
Acid-free paper won't do this. It's not so much that non-acid-free 
sleeves will damage records directly - it's that don't don't do as good 
a job of protecting the records over time.

Acid-free paper is expensive, and it's probably not be worth the extra 
money in most cases. Also, even papers that aren't acid-free have 
different levels of quality. For instance, newsprint tends to 
deteriorate rapidly, while printer paper lasts  a lot longer. For most 
purposes, it's probably fine for sleeves to be made from decent-quality 
paper. For long-term archival storage (e.g. the Library of Congress), 
acid-free sleeves might be a good idea.

> Acid-free might make a difference for lacquers but I wouldn't waste the money
> on shellacs. And in any event, you can wrap your records in deerskin for all I
> care but it's still pointless unless you've cleaned them first.
>
> dl

-- 
                        -        Jeff Lichtman
                                 jeff at swazoo.com
                                 Check out Swazoo Koolak Photography
                                     at http://swazoo.com/