WWII Letters Preservation

another of interest WWII.. http://www.dadswwiiletters.com/letters/category/year-1942/8-august-1942/

 

I collect WWII letters, primarily complete groupings. A rough guess would be about 40-50 different individuals totaling 10,000+ letters. I also have a few collections from the Korean War. If there is any interest, I can describe the better collections.

 

I would be very intersted in hearing about the WWII letters and the people who wrote them.

 

I am here in Florida helping my great Uncle move into another home and out of his many memento's from the war, I found letters he wrote home during his service. He was gracious enough to give them to me. My question is what is the best way to store them? He just had them in a storage bag wrapped in a plastic bag placed in his closet. I know not the greatest place to leave them but he is almost 86, so cut him some slack
Anybody have any experience with these things? I was thinking of making a memory book of sorts putting them in a sheet protector like I have with other WW2 documents. My idea was to make something memorable for him and not just put them away, again.

I also found his training manual from Amphibious Training School and instructions for signalman training. These are quite thick but want everything to be kept in good condition for many years to come.


Thanks for any suggestions.

Aaron

 

This may seem odd, but I myself have used the vacuum pump of the "Foodsaver" system to seal up a number of things which I don't want the "world" to interfere with. Just a thought.

 

Thanks Lou, I should have thought of that before I posted my question

 

Hi all--

Not sure what forum to put this in, so if it's wrong mods, do your dirtiest. ;o)

I'm kind of bored and I figured a new thread here would be the perfect salve.

I now have several stacks of historical documents, books, pictures, memorabilia and the like pertaining to my search for my grandfather's war history, and they are basically sitting in file cabinets or on my office floor. I want to store these in a way that won't damage them, and that will protect them from wear and tear, so that future generations of my family can enjoy them.

I'd prefer to keep it all in one location, versus keeping the paperwork in file folders, the memorabilia in a storage bin, etc.

Any suggestions for how I should be keeping this stuff safe? I know that keeping it all in vertical stacks isn't good for the paperwork, so how should I treat it?

 

Since you dared me, I moved it.

When Skipper sees this he will be able to give you a good lead or two.

 

Oh Great, now I gotta move this again.

I think those clear plastic zip lock bags that hardcore Comic collectors use would be ideal for most documents and photos.

 

It's a mix of taste and preservation. Sometimes you can combine both, sometimes you have to choose. I select them by thematics first and then by essence. For instance one postcard book for WW1 postcards, one for WW2 postcards, one for WW2 Ausweisses, one for Luftwaffe ppictures etc...
Then when you have larger documents like A4 leaves I put them in plastic covers .(Unless of course I choose to frame these earleir mentionnned formats.)
Framing is better for display, but light is an absolute enemy , epsecially the U.V. of moonlight. Just see old framed pictures at garage sales. Posters are either framed, pinned on a wall or rolled up if too fragile .

Small paper pins are put on display in boxes.

Hope this helps.

 

My walls are lined with framed 18th and 19th century nautical charts. Today, you can buy UV resistant (plastic) "glass" for old documents on display. It's not expensive. Even with this "glass" over them, they still should be kept out of direct light of any kind. Documents on display should also be backed with acid free paper and if matted, acid free matting. You can order these materials online, or any art shop will be able to help you.

As for storage, I'd layer any especially important documents between acid free paper and store them in anything but a clear plastic box.

 

The anti UV plastic is a good idea , except for paintings and drawing that are already originally framed.

 

This is one Merge, I'll keep working on it boss.

 

And another merge.

 

Thanks guys, this has been really helpful and informative. Sorry for necessitating so much moving, merging and pinning! ;o)