Research for the Archivist of Today and Tomorrow
Harry Lewis · The American Archivist · 1949
problems involved in preserving historical documents are well known to the readers of this magazine. The paper on which these documents are printed may be described under two general classes with gradations all the way from one to the other. Papers may be classified as meaning, historically, that they have been made from rags under such conditions as would give them long life, and permanent, meaning almost everything else; for it has been ordinarily considered that paper made from either chemical or mechanical wood pulp and from straw will have a shorter span than will the well made rag papers. Actually, the expectancy of a sheet depends on the conditions of papermaking and conversion, as well as on the original fiber furnish. High acidity in the sheet, high rosin content, high acidity in the inks, all combine to shorten the expectancy even of the so-called permanent papers. The presence of alkaline buffering agents neutralizes the effect of the acid and lengthens the period of service. Proper observance of the fundamental knowledge in the field may give even the so-called nonpermanent wood pulp and straw papers much longer than normal life expectancy. In addition, modern pulp making and refining techniques have produced wood pulps of high purity and greatly improved potential service. Today, therefore, we want to know not only the fiber furnish but also the character of the sheet before we pass judgment on its probable behavior over the years. Unfortunately, the printer, more often than not, has no idea of the future value of the job he is printing. Handbills have been put on the cheapest paper municipal records on whatever was available in the print shop. By happy circumstance, the only paper available in quantity to the printer before the middle of the last century was made from rags by a process which providentially yielded a first-class product.