The following information was provided by Denise Cross (dcross@lnmta.bentley.edu), a professional librarian, to another mailing list. It's so useful that I thought you would enjoy having her suggestions. Denise has given me permission to share it with you. Denise Cross wrote: > Milk of Magnesia -a bit messy and a soak in liquid for that long could disintegrate an old clipping. (Note: The original posting had a suggestion about preserving clippings in an MOM soak.) There are 2 excellent spray products on the market. Bookkeeper and Wei To Sprays. University Products (800-628-1912) and Light Impressions carry them (www.lightimpressionsdirect.com). Just spray on and let dry. Lamination is ok...but it is actually a mixed bag. Your lamination film and adhesive MUST be free of anything that will contribute to yellowing. The item cannot "breathe" in this environment and if the chemicals present are destructive over time, the item will yellow badly. It won't crumble because of the support from the laminate, but it can get hard to read. I've seen some laminated newsprint stay relatively fresh and some turn brown. A better option (and the one archives use) is micro-encapsulation. Using sheets of mylar and acidfree/archival quality double sided adhesive, you sandwich the item between two sheets and seal all around the edge (leaving a tiny gap for "breathing"). Backing the document with a buffered sheet of lignin free paper or treating with a spray above will help arrest the deterioration. The item itself is not adheared in anyway, so the mylar can be cut open to remove it at a future date. The mylar lends great support to the paper as well. The mylar sheets come in many sizes, small sheets for cutting to preserve clippings to big enough to encapsulate broadsides. > Copying onto acid free, lignin free paper is the way to go for long term preservation of the info. Ellen's note: I have purchased acid-free album sheets, clear mylar protectors and archival glue from a catalog company called Exposures in Oshkosh, WI (1 800 572-5750). The glue is abt $7.95 per tube and it's a small tube. The glue is sort of rubbery and you can actually remove a photo to replace it or move, provided it isn't fragile. You would not be able to move a newspaper clipping, however. On another list, I believe someone also said acid free album sheets were available a Wal-Mart. Regards, Ellen Bisson