Have taken up a new hobby

[bmasters9]

I thought I might tell you about a hobby I've picked up: collecting vintage papers from my youth (and perhaps maybe even before that). My nephew turned me on to that, and I agreed that it would be a great idea. All I have to do is pay him for them, and he gets them from EBay.

Here's the latest one I've gotten: the L.A. Times from Jan. 29, 1986, one day after the Challenger disaster (which will mark 30 years this coming 1/28/16). I've also gotten an Atlanta one from 1991, and parts of some Baltimore papers from 1984.

[biffbronson]

Good luck with your new hobby! Old newsprint will actually last a very LONG time under proper storage conditions.

You will want to keep the papers cool, dry, and dark -- exposure to UV light is not good. Watch out for the enemies of paper: heat, humidity, light, insects/rodents, and physical handling. A dehumidifier may be a good idea to help with climate control.

I was also going to mention to you that there are sprays available to de-acidify newsprint. There was a story years ago where clippings in Elvis Presley's collection of papers were being sprayed by the museum or other place holding them. Of course this would be quite expensive to do entire papers with lots of pages.

Anyway, there are also archival tapes you can buy for mending of any torn pages. That's something I need to get for some of my paper items. That type of special tape won't do any damage.

[Penny Lane]

I have a stack of 1984 sports sections of The Flint Journal. The Detroit Tigers won the World Series that year and I have saved all of the articles. I just looked at some of them the other day and they are in pretty bad shape. I'll probably throw them out.

I also have some 1930's newspapers reporting on the Dionne Quintuplets. They were huge news back then. My grandma gave them to me but they too are deteriorating.

They are all stored in my cedar chest.

[bmasters9]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

Good luck with your new hobby! Old newsprint will actually last a very LONG time under proper storage conditions.

You will want to keep the papers cool, dry, and dark -- exposure to UV light is not good. Watch out for the enemies of paper: heat, humidity, light, insects/rodents, and physical handling. A dehumidifier may be a good idea to help with climate control.

I was also going to mention to you that there are sprays available to de-acidify newsprint. There was a story years ago where clippings in Elvis Presley's collection of papers were being sprayed by the museum or other place holding them. Of course this would be quite expensive to do entire papers with lots of pages.

Anyway, there are also archival tapes you can buy for mending of any torn pages. That's something I need to get for some of my paper items. That type of special tape won't do any damage.

Thanks for the response on that! I am, for the moment, keeping these papers in a memory chest in front of my bed, but I'm planning on soon getting a big blue or green corrugated tub-like container with a lid on it to put them in, or maybe even a plastic one.

[Janice]

Good luck on your new hobby. My husband buys and sells old coins on eBay. Both hobbies allow one to hold a piece of history in their hands. This site is great for the historical aspect. http://www.shorpy.com/

[biffbronson]

Originally Posted by Penny Lane

I have a stack of 1984 sports sections of The Flint Journal. The Detroit Tigers won the World Series that year and I have saved all of the articles. I just looked at some of them the other day and they are in pretty bad shape. I'll probably throw them out.

I also have some 1930's newspapers reporting on the Dionne Quintuplets. They were huge news back then. My grandma gave them to me but they too are deteriorating.

They are all stored in my cedar chest.

My dad had saved a lot of 1984 Cubs articles, and those have turned pretty dark -- maybe a bad newsprint year (lol).

If your articles will fit on your scanner bed, maybe you'll want to scan either all of them or selected ones. May take 2 or 3 scans for longer articles you want to save. Using software like Picasa, it's pretty easy then to do a little digital restoration to make them look vibrant again.

Another option for newspapers, whether full sections or clippings, is to have them professionally bound. The edges are usually trimmed in this process, and that's the most common place damage has occurred. Clippings could be mounted on paper, and then the stack of paper is bound into a book.

I should mention too of course that a lot of people enjoy scrapbooking too, to preserve articles. Articles of special significance can also be framed, maybe including as well ticket stubs, autographs, baseball cards, photos, etc.... !