# Scrapbooking Experts / Archiving & Storing Printed Material



## Reynard (6 Aug 2019)

Can the CycleChat collective mind suggest a suitable solution to a problem that's been bugging me for a while?

I have a collection of motor racing memorabilia that I've been putting together since 1987 - a mix of newspaper clippings, race reports, race programmes, magazines, posters, photographic prints of various sizes, smaller sundries and artwork.

It's current home is an arch lever file, most items kept individually in A4 archive wallets. The reason for the arch lever file is not just that I happen to have a lot of bits, but that it's easier to add new stuff to a collection kept in chronological order.

But the file is both battered and overflowing to the point I can barely close the lever ring whachamacallits, and some of the pieces that belong in the collection (mainly magazines and posters) don't fit in A4 wallets. Cutting things down or folding to make them fit in the A4 wallets is not an option.

Now I could keep this stuff in a box, but there's no fun in that. I've been thinking about splitting across multiple folders (e.g. one for each year) and / or using A3 art folios that come with ring binders for the larger items, but this kind of defeats the point of keeping everything in one place.

Can anyone suggest something?

Does a larger-than-A4, double capacity arch lever file exist?


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## classic33 (6 Aug 2019)

There's one or two that do them


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## Reynard (6 Aug 2019)

classic33 said:


> There's one or two that do them



Thanks for the heads up xxx 

Not entirely what I'm looking for, though. Most of the stuff I have is A4 or smaller, so the odd larger item would get damaged in an A3 file. I'm looking for something that is probably only a couple of inches or so wider than A4 at most - assuming that sort of thing exists.

Although that search did throw up Jumbo arch levers which take 800 sheets rather than 500. That certainly solves the "overflowing file" part of the problem...


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## classic33 (6 Aug 2019)

Viking do a couple of sizes in between A4 & A3.

How much of an overlap, and which way?


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## Reynard (6 Aug 2019)

classic33 said:


> How much of an overlap, and which way?



An inch or two extra widthways should do it (perpendicular to the arch). No more than that. I'd also need the archive wallets as well.

Irritatingly, the older copies of Autosport aren't A4 - they're printed on 302mm x 220mm. Although having said that, the standard A4 archive wallets are too tight a fit for the current editions of Autosport as well - which *are* printed A4 size...


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## classic33 (6 Aug 2019)

A4 box file? 9 1/2" x 14 1/2"


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## Reynard (6 Aug 2019)

I have box files aplenty - and which I have used in the past. But then I'm back to loose items again...


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## classic33 (6 Aug 2019)

There's the file holders "sealed" on two sides only. Slightly larger than A4. About an inch on the open sides.


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## slowmotion (6 Aug 2019)

Oversized A4 lever arch files hit a raw nerve round here. I made some bookshelves and they don't fit!

Both Bantex and Esselte make versions that are larger than standard.


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## Reynard (6 Aug 2019)

classic33 said:


> There's the file holders "sealed" on two sides only. Slightly larger than A4. About an inch on the open sides.



Which are fine until you inadvertently pick something up upside down and then *fwoomph*

DAMHIKT


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## Reynard (6 Aug 2019)

slowmotion said:


> Oversized A4 lever arch files hit a raw nerve round here. I made some bookshelves and they don't fit!
> 
> Both Bantex and Esselte make versions that are larger than standard.



Oh, thanks, I'll look them up.


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## Reynard (7 Aug 2019)

Yayyyyy! Expandable punched pockets. Looks like they'll fit the copies of Autosport without my having to dismember them. 

https://www.officestationery.co.uk/...ll-length-front-a4-pack-of-5-kf00138-KF00138/

Happy Reynard!!!


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## Reynard (7 Aug 2019)

Actually, this place has various different kind of expanding pockets. They also have A5 ones, which are useful for smaller items that I don't want to mount.

Not so great on arch lever files - other than A3, which I don't really want, the rest doesn't seem to give me anything different to what I already have.

What I'm already using is a foolscap file with a 75mm spine, btw.

Need to find one with a bigger spine...


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## Reynard (5 Sep 2019)

Well, it's pretty well much official - as of today, my archive has outgrown the arch lever file. Transferring to a file with an 85mm spine is pointless, so I have decided to buy one of these instead:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Really-Use...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y1ER7ZX113GRN0CD2JFT

I'll keep the individual sections bound in report wallets - which gives me the flexibility to add and move items whenever necessary.

It's a shame I can't keep everything in one file anymore - it's lived in this one since 1992, and prior to that, three exercise books. But I have to be realistic. Just need to figure out which size of box I want.

That'll probably be the 24 litre one at a minimum, because I need to make allowance for the additional binders, and it needs to be future-proof for a while.


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## Reynard (6 Nov 2019)

Still banging my head against the wall with this.

Individual binders are proving to be really problematic.The ones I can get in regular high street stationers / craft shops are either simply too flimsy for the volume of paper or the rings are too small / or on the back cover rather than on the spine. Sturdier ones with decent-sized spine mounted rings can be had, but are only available as bulk orders.

After having recently included the draft manuscript and research material for an abortive book I was working on several years ago, I'm really stuck for space, so for now will just decant part of the archive into a second arch lever file while I try and solve the binder issue.


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## annedonnelly (6 Nov 2019)

Is it worth talking to a local museum or library about how they store things professionally? They might be able to advise or even help with the bulk purchase thing.

In my experience professional archivists/curators love explaining the technicalities of stuff like this. And I imagine that Cambridge is full of organisations storing old stuff.


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## Alex H (6 Nov 2019)

Scan it all. then you'll never have to handle the paper again and it'll all fit in a big box (and be easier to locate , read, reproduce)


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## Moon bunny (6 Nov 2019)

At my old workplace we used boxes-as they placed less strain on staples etc.-with acid free tissue and tyvek freely used as necessary.
https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Archival-Storage/Boxes


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## Reynard (6 Nov 2019)

There's a museum here in Ely @annedonnelly - guess it's worth asking. Likewise the library, as the library handles a lot of the archive material for the cathedral. Worst they can do is say "take a hike". 

Digitising it is also on the agenda at some point @Alex H - although I've learnt that cats and boxes are not the best combination. 

What I'm trying to do is bind it in chronological order with a binder for each year, as I have this "thing" about loose sheets of paper. All the bits I have are already in proper archive sleeves, photos mounted on acid free card etc. 

It's an archive tracking the career of my favourite racing driver.  That's his helmet in my avatar btw...


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## Reynard (6 Nov 2019)

Moon bunny said:


> At my old workplace we used boxes-as they placed less strain on staples etc.-with acid free tissue and tyvek freely used as necessary.
> https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Archival-Storage/Boxes



Thanks for that.  I'd actually been eyeing up the 24 litre "Really Useful Box" to keep the binders in - the one that takes the drop files. Was planning to put each binder in a drop file.

Plus there's some things that will be useful for conserving / storing a whole load of wartime newspapers and propaganda pamphlets.


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## Reynard (27 Jan 2020)

Just to update...

The binder-and-box idea has gone right out of the window. I've realised it's so totally unworkable, especially since I wildly underestimated the amount of stuff I still had knocking around that wanted filing.  So arch levers it is. Bought one additional foolscap file just before Christmas. It is already overfull, and I still have enough material to fill at least one more...

And that was before I acquired a collection of never-published photos as a Christmas present to myself thanks to a random comment...

Though I now do have a supply of expandable punch pockets to take the press packs, magazines, posters etc.


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## Rezillo (27 Jan 2020)

As mentioned earlier, you need acid-free storage boxes - just google acid-free archive storage. When I retired, I had a volunteer job for 18 months re-archiving the contents of a local museum's archive store, which was in a terrible state. Newspapers and magazines in the wrong boxes were in an advanced state of decay after about 15 years. Some paper will do this anyway but it pays not to encourage the process.

I would not place anything in plastic wallets unless they're approved for archiving as in a few year's time you'll try to take something out only to find it irretrievably stuck to the inner surface! Old photo albums do this as well.

My archiving experience ended when I found a box of WW1 dug up shells which had no id or decommissioning certificate other than a note that seemed some years old with a phone number on it for someone to ring who would know if they were live or not. I thought this went rather beyond my volunteer role.


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## Reynard (27 Jan 2020)

Blimey, at least I haven't got anything quite like that squirreled away... Although I do have about half a late model stock car bodyshell sitting in my garage. 

No fear, I'm using pukka archival wallets and mounting card, and have been since I started putting this together back in '87.


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