Paper - More than Meets the Eye

We are surrounded by so much paper and card that it is easy to forget just how complex it is. There are many varieties and grades of paper materials, and whilst it is fairly easy to spot the varieties, it is far more difficult to spot the grades.

It needs to be understood that most paper and card is manufactured for a specific purpose, so that whilst the corn-flake packet may look smart it is clearly not something destined for the archives. It is made to look good, but only needs a limited life span. It is also much cheaper to manufacture than high grade card.

Paper can be made from an almost endless variety of cellulose based material which will include many woods, cottons and grasses or which papyrus is an example and from where we get the word 'paper'. Many of these are very specialized, but the preponderance of paper making has been from soft wood and cotton or rags, with the bulk being wood based.

Paper from Wood.

In order to make wood into paper it needs to be broken down into fine strands. Firstly by powerful machinery and then boiled with strong alkalies such as caustic soda, until a fine pulp of cellulose fibres is produced. It is from this pulp that the final product is made, relying on the bonding together of the cellulose into layers. That, in a very small nutshell, is the essence of paper making from wood. However, the reality is rather more complicated. In order to give us our white paper and card the makers will add bleach and other materials such as china clay and additional chemicals.

An further problem with wood is that it contains a material that is not cellulose. Something called Lignin. This is essential for the tree since it holds the cellulose fibres together, but if it is incorporated into the manufactured paper it presents archivists with a problem. Lignin eventually breaks down and releases acid products into the paper. This will weaken the bond between the cellulose fibres and the paper will become brittle and look rather brown and careworn. We have all seen this in old newspapers and cheap paperback books. It has been estimated that most paper back books will have a life of not greater than fifty years. Not what we need for our archives.

Since the lignin can be removed from the paper pulp during manufacture the obvious question is 'why is it left in the paper?' The answer lies in the fact that lignin makes up a considerable part of the tree. By leaving the lignin in the pulp a papermaker can increase his paper yield from a tree to some 95%. Removing it means a yield of only 35%. It is clearly uneconomic to remove the lignin for many paper and card applications.

It also means, of course, that lignin free paper is going to be more expensive, but that is nevertheless what the archivist must look for in his supplies. There is no point whatsoever in carefully placing our valuable artifacts in paper or card that is going to hasten their demise. Acid is particularly harmful to photographic materials, causing them to fade and is some cases simply vanish!

So, how do we tell a piece of suitable paper or card from one that is unsuitable? You cannot do it by simply looking, and rather disappointingly, you cannot always rely on the label. 'Acid free' might be true inasmuch as a test on the paper may indicate that it is a neutral material at this time. But lignin can take years before it starts the inevitable process of breaking down, and in the right conditions it will speed up enormously.

Added to this, as I have indicated earlier, paper may also contain other materials added during manufacture such as bleach, china clay, chemical whiteners and size. This looks like a bleak picture, and it would be but for the fact that there are suppliers who will guarantee the material that they sell. If you want to be absolutely sure that you are storing in, or printing on, the correct material then this is probably the only way.

Incidentally, acids can migrate from material to material. Lining old shoe boxes with good quality acid free paper will do little to guard the contents. The acid will get there in the end.

Paper from Rag.

Paper is also commonly made from cotton and rag waste. This has the advantage of being lignin free, but because there is much less cotton and rag than trees, it also tends to be much more expensive than wood pulp paper. You will still need to purchase from a reliable source though, since even rag paper and card can contain undesirable additives.

A reliable source for quality rag papers is a recognised art stockist. Many water colour artists insist on using only fine quality rag paper and board.

The main lesson to learn from this information is that you cannot rely on purchasing archival materials from the high street. The only safe solution is to purchase from specialist suppliers. It may cost rather more, but in the end you will know that your important and valuable data and images have the best home possible.

Copyright © Peter C. Amsden 2005

Peter C. Amsden (amsden@btinternet.com) has many years experience in photography, film and television. An Associate of both The Royal Photographic Society and of the British Institute of Professional Photographers. He had made a special study of conserving and archiving imaging media and is author of "Images for the Future". Runs consultancy and web design business, for more info. see http://www.ASAT.biz

CBC.ca
The Large Hadron Collider: how the press demeans science
Times Online, UK - 23 hours ago
In short, it's demeaning to science, and insulting to scientists. The LHC is one of the most exciting experiments of this or any age, yet the thing most ...
Public Lecture Celebrates UA Physicists' Participation in Largest ... University of Arizona News (press release)
Collider Triggers End-of-World Fears TIME
Building the 'Big Bang machine' BBC News
Telegraph.co.uk - Registerall 335 news articles

NewsHour
In Long-Awaited Maps of Cancer, The Breakthrough Is the Problem
Wall Street Journal - 15 hours ago
Two separate papers in Science on pancreatic and brain cancer are the result of a private cancer-genome project led by researchers at Johns Hopkins. ...
Data on defective genes make tailored remedies possible Baltimore Sun
Numerous Undiscovered Gene Alterations In Pancreatic And Brain ... Science Daily (press release)
What You Need to Know About Mapping the Cancer Genome U.S. News & World Report
Bloomberg - Wired Newsall 305 news articles

History Hacker Brings DIY Science From Web to TV
Wired News - 48 minutes ago
How-to video wizard Bre Pettis is taking his home-brew science experiments from YouTube to the boob tube. Pettis recently announced a partnership with the ...

Navy enlists Health Science Center in fight against biological warfare
Bizjournals.com, NC - 3 hours ago
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is leading a $3 million research project that will allow Navy officials to detect blood-borne ...

Science and maths assaulted by educational reforms, say scientists
guardian.co.uk, UK - 7 hours ago
Ministers should stop "assaulting" schools with educational reforms that are undermining efforts to increase the number of pupils taking maths and science, ...
Scotland tops in maths and science The Press Association
White students 'avoid maths and science' Independent
'Knee-jerk' policies driving school pupils from science Telegraph.co.uk
Chemistry World - Glasgow Evening Timesall 21 news articles

Water leakage damages first floor of Jack Science Center
Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck, ND - 1 hour ago
Water from an old underground water main leaked into the first floor of Bismarck State College's Jack Science Center Wednesday night (Sept. 3). ...
Leak forces college to move classes | KXNet.com North Dakota News KXMC
all 16 news articles

Sydney Morning Herald
Obama and McCain on science: Where do they stand?
Scientific American - 22 hours ago
Newly minted Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has made clear she's open to teaching creationism in public school science classes and to oil ...
Palin questions global warming science Sydney Morning Herald
Drill, Baby, Drill: The Reality of the McCain-Palin Plan Jackson Free Press
Alaskan greens say McCain's VP pick has anti-environmental record Grist Magazine
all 395 news articles

Proposal Would Pay Math & Science Teachers Big Bonuses
MyFox Kansas City, MO - 7 hours ago
It seems fewer teachers are filling positions in math and science and now some are hoping to increase their salary over the next five years by $15000 ...
Hulshof wants to pay math, science teachers more Columbia Daily Tribune
Mo. Gov. Candidate Hulshof Outlines Education Plan MyFox Saint Louis
Hulshof outlines education plan KSPR
all 11 news articles

ABC News
Autism and Vaccines: Why Bad Logic Trumps Science
LiveScience.com, NY - 1 hour ago
By Benjamin Radford, LiveScience's Bad Science Columnist The link between childhood autism and vaccines has, once again, been refuted. ...
Autism and measles vaccine: no link found -- again Los Angeles Times
As Seen on TV: MMR Vaccine and Autism ABC News
Comment by Kim Stagliano Managing Editor, Age of Autism
Insider Medicine - Telegraph.co.ukall 296 news articles

Science center expands its reach
Monroenews.com, MI - 3 hours ago
2008 11:12AM The math and science center on the shores of Lake Erie that for years has offered hands-on learning for Monroe students now is available to all ...
Facility renamed for Knabusches Monroenews.com
all 2 news articles

Locusts To Help Make Energy From Bio Waste, part I

Plagues of Locusts through out history are well documented. In fact they are even documented... Read More

The Best and Worst of April?s Weather

If Johannes Kepler, the renowned 17th century astronomer and discoverer of the planetary laws of... Read More

That Dust on Your Car May Soon Be Smarter Than You Think?

Here is a thought to get this topic started. A thought on a smart dust... Read More

The Valuable Individual

How can we, as individuals, participate in waste management? Because some of us are so... Read More

Megaliths and Pole Flips

The changes in the earth magnetic field away from the 7.8 cycle rhythm that it... Read More

747 Onboard Laser Might Cause Mistake and Identity

Remember when the Russians shot down a Korean Airlines 747 accidentally, which was 4 degrees... Read More

Cloaking the Postage Stamp Modern Aircraft Carrier

By using a special coating on the deck of an aircraft carrier and a projector... Read More

The Intricacies of a Compound Microscope

Have you ever used a compound microscope? Your first thought may be to answer "no"... Read More

Organic Decoy Devices for Warfare (ODDW)

We can genetically modify a rat to be the same body temperature as a humans,... Read More

Fire Escape System Concept

What if in the event of a fire the building system started putting out instructions... Read More