The Air We Breath...

The trend for the last few years has been for consumers to move towards more natural and non-toxic products: plastics especially are now Undesirable No. 1.  However, all sorts of things can off gas: furniture, carpet, mattresses...you know that new car smell everyone always loves? That’s actually from materials in the vehicle off gassing.  

So, you may or may not have heard of off gassing.  I know that even when the no-plastics movement started, I still hadn’t really heard much about off gassing specifically. Off gassing is defined most simply as: to give off a chemical, especially a harmful one, in the form of a gas.  Those smells you smell in a new car or from a piece of furniture are actually the product releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air.

The first time I ever heard that term used was about archives, not plastics.  The Society of American Archivists uses the term outgassing and define this as: the release of material in the form of a vapor as a result of deterioration.  So, when items start to deteriorate, they give off a gas. Usually it is pretty obvious which items may be off gassing as they have a smell. The thing that I always think of immediately is blueprints.  There’s a flat file of blueprints that I’ve had to go through in search of something, and the whole file just reeks of vinegar! It’s the paper that is starting to break down. Blueprint paper is treated with ammonium ferric citrate and potassium ferricyanide, so it’s not like regular paper is starting to decompose; it is the compounds on the paper.  The prints have given the entire archives area a certain vinegar smell to it. Typically, when you get that vinegar smell, most people will attribute it to cellulose acetate plastic in film. They even call it vinegar syndrome.

There are also concerns when it comes to the furnishings in a repository.  I once had someone asking me about some bookcases that had been donated to them and if they would be ok to use.  Upon inspection, the bookcases were made of MDF/particleboard. Don’t get me wrong, I know the budgeting constraints on most organizations, and beggars can’t be choosers, so by all means use the free bookcases!  But it’s important to note that some materials, (MDF and particleboard are notorious) contain toxic elements like formaldehyde that can be harmful. During graduate school, I worked at a law firm that handled different personal injury cases, and one branch of the firm had taken to looking into a particular big box flooring supplier as their products were allegedly off gassing toxic chemicals, like formaldehyde, at insane levels.  If you read my previous post, you’ll recall that after I had been asked about building suggestions for a new facility, part of my recommendation was to not use certain varnishes, flooring products, paints, etc. as they can give off toxic vapors. While the main concern is obviously staff and visitors that you don’t want exposed to potential VOCs floating around, you also don’t want your artifacts submitted to random chemicals that may be in the air.  

There are different tests that you can do to test the indoor air quality of a facility to see just how bad things are.  Home Air Check is one of the first ones that comes up if you do a Google search (this post is not affiliated or sponsored by Home Air Check), and there are others out there as well.  If you discover that you are working with less than stellar air quality, you can try an air purifier with a high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. This will work to filter out unseen nastiness that may be floating around.  But one of the simplest things you can do is to work to control temperature and humidity. Not only does low temperature and stable humidity lead to prolonged life of archival records, they can also help keep things from off gassing as rapidly.  

Sources for this post

https://www.getgreenbewell.com/what-is-off-gassing/

https://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/o/outgassing

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-make-blueprint-paper-606176

https://www.filmpreservation.org/preservation-basics/vinegar-syndrome

https://homeaircheck.com/

https://www.cpsc.gov/PageFiles/121919/AN%20UPDATE%20ON%20FORMALDEHYDE%20final%200113.pdf

October is National Archives Month!

Image courtesy of Society of American Archivists

October is National Archives Month.  That means an entire month dedicated to emphasizing the importance of archives and the work that archivists do! 

            One of the questions I get asked most when I tell people what I do is: what do archivists do?  Archivists do a lot of things, but put simply – archivists maintain material for future use.  Most people assume that archivists mainly work in libraries or museums and work with historical photos and documents.  And while that is certainly the case for a lot of archivists, it is not the only career path.  There are corporate archivists, who maintain financial and business records for companies.  There are also digital archivists who work to preserve the ever-changing products of the digital age that we live in today.  There can also be film archivists whose main task is to preserve moving image reels.  Regardless of what field an archivist is in, the objective is still the same: make this material available and preserve it for the future.

            And this material that archivists work to preserve in their repository can often connect to other archives or larger collections.  For example, genealogists often use archival records to help trace their family history.  So if someone finds a marriage certificate during their research, the application for that license is likely on file with the local government.  Archival records can be a lot like footnotes in reading; they can open up unexpected sources of new information that you may not have even considered!

            Archives can also serve as a collective memory for a group or organization.  Women’s archives, LGBT archives, and Native American archives are just a few examples of specialized repositories that hold records pertaining to a certain group.  The information found in the records retained by these archives serves as a powerful source of history and information for current and future citizens. 

            For government records, the retention of information provides transparency and accountability.  Perhaps the largest sector, government archives contain some of the most important records.  Deeds, maps, and correspondence are archived and can give insight into the inner workings of office and to even help solve legal debates and show paths taken to overcome obstacles. 

            Unfortunately, many archives are underused and underfunded.  Many repositories rely on government grants and private donations to operate.  Also, when budget cuts come up, archives are usually one of the first areas hit by the decrease in funding.  

The goal for both the archival profession and the organization is the same: to preserve content with historical value for upcoming generations.  Many called into the archival field have a passion to protect the unwritten history that does not show up in history books or classrooms.  They want to give a voice to those that might otherwise be forgotten, so that others may know a more complete chronicle of the past.  Theirs is a past that directly and indirectly bonds us all together, both as a people and collectively as the human race.  This mission rings true with many archivists in practice today.  Without the vital institute of archival repositories, many stories would be forever lost.  Hopefully through outreach, funding, and determination archives will become a more present entity in society and not fall by the wayside. The history of today is the greatest legacy we can pass on to those that will follow.