Expert: Brian G. Philbin - 3/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

Thanks in advance for reading this.
I have been collecting some magazines and was wondering if you knew the best way to preserve them?
I think I am looking for those hard plastic comic and magazine sleeves; do you know where I can find those and, will those preserve the magazine?

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi, Avi - thanks for your question!

My recommendation is to store them in Mylar sleeves, which is the hard plastic sleeve I believe you're describing.  Dupont Mylar D is used by the Library of Congress for preservation of documents.  Other plastics (polypropelene, polyethelene and the like) have acidic compounds in them that will eventually deteriorate the paper.  Even hard, solid plastic frames will deteriorate over time, just like the headlight lens on an old car.

If you use boxes to keep them in, try to find non-acidic boxes, as the acid from one paper will leech into that of the magazines.

Keep the magazines in a stable temperature (around 74 degrees works) and humidity (around 50% is optimal) away from sunlight.  Varying humidity and temperature take their toll on paper of any kind.  Basements are great, but I also recommend if you use the basement, you prop the magazines or their storage boxes up off the floor to allow for damp floors that occur sometimes in high rain or flood seasons.

The best Mylar sleeve protection you can find is available from two separate sources, who make their own Mylar products for the collectibles market and have all sorts of sizes available:

Bill Cole Mylar - www.bcemylar.com
E. Gerber Products - www.egerber.com

They both have the highest quality products available at the best prices for Mylar that you'll find.  I use "mylites" from Gerber because they're the cheapest, best solution.  Gerber also has made their own products and have supplied the Library of Congress.  However, if you don't have over a thousand of these magazines, then you might want to opt for the more expensive sleeves.

If you can't find non-acidic boxes, you can always go to this site to find other sizes of Mylar or protective paper that you can use to line the sides, tops and bottoms of whatever storage you're using - however - I would take great care in ordering from this company and be sure to avoid non-archival plastics that they sell in bulk - don't let it confuse you - if it doesn't say non-acidic or archival or mylar, it just isn't:

www.bagsunlimited.com

Also, check out the website under my name to get more specific instructions on storage and the like that might apply to your situation that I might have missed.

I hope that that's helpful.

Pax, harmonia,

Brian G. Philbin
http://www.metropolisplus.com/COMICSBASICS.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Brian,

So I just received my 4mil Mylar sleeves in the mail.
Couple fo questions for you:
-I bought the magazine size but some of the magazines I have are closer to comics in size and are swimming in these bags. Is that ok or should it be super snug inside?
-Second, am I supposed to somehow close these things? the tops are just open; wont the papers deteriorate if they are exposed to air?

Thanks again for the help.

Answer
Eh.  It's really not as much about keeping the air off of them, mostly keeping the dirt off and reflecting extra light.  Oxygen is a factor, but if you're storing them standing in boxes or in stacks, they tend to squeeze the air out of their insides when that type of pressure is applied.

You can certainly close the tops by taping them, but the National Archive indicates that the only way to improve over having simply covered the books is to encase them entirely.  There are products sold by both companies that will slide on and hold the flaps shut.  Most folks tape them.  I leave them open and it works fine for me.

If you were in a retail environment, that option might not be as attractive, as it would invite people to repeatedly take the books out of their sleeves.

You can also find more information from past questions I've answered on this subject on AllExperts or visit my site to see notations that I've made about several different storage options at:

www.metropolisplus.com/comicsbasics.htm

Hope that helps!

Pax, harmonia,

Brian G. Philbin