Putting It Into Practice

Storing Paper Collections

Scrapbooks/Albums

Scrapbooks pose challenging preservation problems because they frequently contain a variety of components and media. In addition, they are often unique, fragile, damaged, or of significant associational value. If they must be interfiled within archival collections, they must be well-supported and separated from direct contact with other materials.

Scrapbooks that have informational value alone (for instance, clippings scrapbooks) can be photocopied onto archival-quality paper and/or microfilmed. The originals would then be retired from use and copies made available to researchers. Scrapbooks that have enduring value in their original form should be individually wrapped in archival-quality paper and/or boxed in custom-fitted boxes. Valuable scrapbooks may have a high priority for evaluation by a conservator. See Preservation of Scrapbooks and Albums on the Library of Congress Web site for more information.