Our historical society relies on photocopies for many of our records and we have just discovered that some of them are deteriorating despite being kept in acid free pockets and limited exposure to sun light. Are we going to end up looking at blank paper or is there something that we can do to stop the breakdown? A lot of the copies have come from the PRO, maybe it is the way that they can keep making an income causing us to come back and pay again for copies. Helen

Photocopy images are never going to be long lasting. They are normally produced with toner powder that is heated to make it stick to the paper. Try rubbing one when it is new and the image usually blurs. Eventually it will fade and do so more quickly than matter printed directly. Why don't you scan the photocopies into a computer while they are fresh and then you have a more permanent record which can be printed when required Nick The Serpell One Name Study Researching Serpells and variants across the world Member: Cornwall Family History Society. The Society of Genealogists. The Guild of One Name Studies Website: www.serpell.org E.mail: [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Helen Kenney Sent: 14 August 2008 14:22 To: [email protected] Subject: Photocopies Our historical society relies on photocopies for many of our records and we have just discovered that some of them are deteriorating despite being kept in acid free pockets and limited exposure to sun light. Are we going to end up looking at blank paper or is there something that we can do to stop the breakdown? A lot of the copies have come from the PRO, maybe it is the way that they can keep making an income causing us to come back and pay again for copies. Helen ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message