Dear Listserv, In our collection we have several thousand letters from our founder written illegally from prison and later from Dachau from 1941-1945. The work of the prisoners was to glue this paper into paper bags--our founder found another use for it. The paper is of poor quality and the pieces are tiny--as you can imagine--so as to be easily smuggled out of prison. He also used other paper he found or received. I am looking for a way to best preserve these letters. I found a company that makes envelopes or sleeves out of pergamin--that translucent, parchment-like material that is often found between leaves of a photo-album or as negative sleeves. The company claims them to be made of 100 percent pure cellulose, bleach and acid-free and to have passed the PAT test. They are meant for photos. I am thinking of using these for my letters, because I can see through them enough to identify a letter without having to touch it, because they breathe more than plastic/Mylar/polypropylene options and because they are cheap, besides having the above features listed by the company. HOWEVER, a company representative said she does not believe they are meant for permanent storage of paper. Here`s the question--can anyone tell me why not? What would be the disadvantage? Can anyone suggest a better solution? Thanks sincerely, Sr. Annamaria Stadick Archivist Schönstätter Marienschwestern Vallendar, Germany __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org. For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] In body of message: SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname *or*: UNSUB ARCHIVES To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask] Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>