Storage

[Barri Twinn]

I,ve got about 3000 programmes all stored by season and in shoe boxes, unfortunately i now have to move them from my spare room and into the loft as we're expecting a baby in the next 2 weeks. Whats the best way to store them in an attic? should i put the individual programmes in bags/poly pockets and leave in shoe boxes or should i buy plastic boxes with an air tight lid? Just don't want my collection to get damages. PLEASE HELP

[Bonz1957]

FWIW I recently bought some sealable clear cellophane bags from eBay (£20 for 1,000) size C5 167 x 230mm, the sort you buy greetings cards in. Put them in a plastic box with a lid and throw in a couple of silica gel sachets. Might mean a large initial outlay, but at around 5p a programme I'll wager they would cost a lot more to replace it they were to get damp.

[slightfold]

Hi Barri, I am a box storer too as I have no room for custom folders, lovely as they are if they are your thing! I'm mainly focused on my wants lists and so access to the programmes is not really needed that much. I have various size boxes for all the different size programmes, and keep them within in those freezer type click lock bags.
The main enemies of paper are light and air and particularly if you move them to your attic (or heaven forbid sheds!) moisture will ruin them IF it can get in. There is greater condensation in attics as they are generally colder. Nowadays the building regs insist on sealed attic traps to stop the moiiture and extractor fans in kitchens and bathrooms to get the moisture out. Personally I would not store there unless you are really pushed but if they are properly sealed up you should be fine.

[Bonz1957]

Thanks for the tip about the freezer bags, slightfold, will consider using them as well for my early and hard to replace ones.
Was recently given around 500 that had been stored in a leaky shed for years, all but a handful were completely ruined - either rotted away or fused together, some so bad I have no way of knowing who they were against!! Only non-league, but I dread to think what they would have been worth if stored properly.

[slightfold]

The best freezer bags have a double lock strip. Fill the bags up preferably with same size programmes and squeeze out the air around the end and seal and voila. Before these came out I used to use black photo copier paper bags and tape them. You can even try an experiment. Put some paper or a naff programme in one of these freezer bags and store it under water to see how good they are!

[tackler7]

Don't do it!