April 13, 2021

Preserving Masonic History: Books, Records, Documents, Photographs

By T.S. Akers
 
The upper gallery of the McAlester Scottish Rite Temple
 
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
 

 

1 comment:

  1. That is great advice for us all. Thank you.
    I know in Elk City there are many items that really need to better preserved. You really offer us all good "hands-on" tools to use to protect our Treasures.

    ReplyDelete