By T.S. Akers
Masonic halls
across Oklahoma, and the Nation, exist in a precarious state. Many of those
halls house a variety of items relating to the material culture of the
Fraternity and its history. It was a lodge fire in 2013 at Okmulgee that led to
the creation of a photographic archive in partnership with the Oklahoma
Historical Society. While the majority of the historic Templar photographs
housed at Okmulgee were rescued, everything in the building could have been
lost. It is for this reason that our Fraternity needs to begin serious efforts
to preserve our material cultural moving forward. This post, which is part one
of two, will address basic steps that can be taken towards properly caring for
our Masonic History.
Preserving
Books, Records, Documents, and Photographs
Storage
When storing or
displaying paper items, something to remember is that if you are comfortable,
they are comfortable. The best temperature setting is 70°F with a variation of plus or
minus 2°F.
The target relative humidity is 50 percent, but 30 to 55 percent is an
acceptable range. A relative humidity below 30 percent is too dry for vellum
and similar materials, metal corrodes at 55 percent, and mold grows at 65
percent.
Materials
should be stored in archival boxes, which are acid-free. These boxes come in a
variety of sizes for a variety of different applications. For documents and
photographs that are 8.5x11 or smaller, acid free folders should also be used
for filing items in archival document boxes. For larger documents and
photographs, there are polyester L-Sleeves that these can be placed in. They
provide protection against tears and with the addition of an acid free backer
board can provide support for the item. A series of documents or photographs in
L-Sleeves could then be placed in a large archival box to be laid flat. L-Sleeves
are the best solution for large documents that have previously been folded. Additionally,
books with bindings that are in poor condition should also be stored in
archival boxes to prevent further damage.
Archival Boxes
Where to Buy:
One other note
on tears in documents and photographs. It is often a wise decision to stabilize
items if possible. While polyester L-Sleeves do a great job of this, there is
also acid free and pH neutral document repair tape that can make items more
sound to prevent further damage. This tape is applied to the reverse side of
items.
Where to Buy:
Display
Paper materials
also need to be shielded from UV light, which can be achieved through a variety
of methods. When stored, these sorts of items should be in drawers or archival
boxes, which will eliminate exposure to light. When displayed, fluorescent
lights should be fitted with UV filters (LED bulbs are the optimal choice). No
items should ever be displayed where direct sunlight will fall on them. Solar
shades, which can block up to 99% of UV rays, or drapes should be used to cover
exterior windows in display spaces.
When displaying
documents or books, one wants to ensure that documents do not curl, and pages
remain in place. Documents in polyester L-Sleeves owing to their condition
should remain in those protective coverings. They may then be mounted to a
backer board (any acid free mat board) using clear polyester strips, sold in
rolls, with the strips holding down the four corners. This same method can be
used for documents not in L-Sleeves. The clear polyester strips should also be
used to hold down the pages of books displayed opened to specific passages. Book
display cradles can be crafted using foam to relieve pressure on the binding.
Polyester strips holding pages down in a display
Where to Buy:
An example of a book display cradle
Charters for
Masonic bodies are probably the most important and commonly displayed document
found in a Masonic hall. These are also the one paper item that is commonly
damaged in Freemasonry. Water damage and humidity have taken their toll on many
Masonic charters, with humidity probably being the main culprit. Humidity
causes what is called cockling on paper and cloth items, which is when the
items become wavy or rippled. This occurs as the paper moves from a damp
environment to a dry environment, drying unevenly. Cockling can be somewhat
reversed by professional framers and paper conservators. One option for
charters is to have them wet mounted and reframed. In this process, the paper
object is typically bonded to acid-free, buffered paper with wheat starch that
has been made into a paste. A heavy-weight canvas is then added to the back of
the paper for extra rigidity. When reframing charters, the additional expense
of museum glass is a sound investment to prevent any future fading.
A diploma that exhibits cockling
Digitization
One important
component of preservation is digitization. Holding original documents in
archives is the foundation of preservation, but researchers being able to
access those items is why archives exist. This is where digitization comes into
play, as the archival documents or photographs can be made available remotely. Digitization
also serves to provide a copy of archival documents or photographs in the event
of a catastrophe. Scanners are relatively inexpensive and digitized holdings
can easily be stored in the Cloud, making them available to countless
researchers through services like Google Drive. Additionally, partnerships can
typically be established with collecting institutions that have large format
scanners for larger items. These institutions may scan those larger items for
free, or a small fee, in exchange for allowing them to add the original item to
their collections.
Handling
One area of
dealing with archival records and photographs that can be overlooked is that of
handling the items. Popular television would lead us to believe that white
gloves are an essential tool in the archivist or curators toolbox, when the
opposite is true. To put it simply, a gloved hand lacks the tactility of an
ungloved hand, which can lead to torn pages and dropped books. Gloves can also
retain dirt and sweat from hands, which makes them even worse for the items
being handled. Before handling any archival items, hands should be washed
thoroughly and dried completely. Do not apply any lotion and remove any
jewelry. Photographs may be the one exception where gloves are still encouraged
for handling.
Resources for Purchasing Archival Goods
