Scrapbooks: How To Preserve and Protect Treasured Memories

Scrapbooks have been a common way of preserving not only photographs, but also newspaper clippings, pamphlets, documents, and other assorted items. Unfortunately, the impulse to save is frequently carried out with techniques and materials that are both detrimental and contrary to the collector's initial intention of long-term preservation. Although every scrapbook is a unique collection arranged by the compiler, scrapbooks as a group exhibit some common characteristics. Album and scrapbook pages are almost universally made of poor-quality paper that deteriorates rapidly and may become stained and embrittled with time. The binding structure of albums is usually unable to adjust to the bulge caused by the materials the albums contain. Plastics used in modern photograph albums and scrapbooks are often unstable and, therefore, damaging. Items are frequently attached to the pages of scrapbooks and albums with harmful tapes or adhesives. Multi- paged letters or pamphlets may be fastened only by the last sheet; documents may be folded; and written notations may span the pages and the enclosed artifacts. Scrapbooks often contain a diversity of materials such as locks of hair, ribbons, badges, pressed flowers, and other three-dimensional objects. All of these features make scrapbooks and albums vulnerable to damage. ENVIRONMENT Although museums, archives, and libraries cannot alter the inherent characteristics of scrapbooks without conservation treatment, they can extend their useful lives by controlling the environment in which they are kept and the manner in which they are stored and handled. Conservation scientists have estimated (based on accelerated aging tests) that the useful life span of paper doubles for every 10