Working to preserve the past

• Heirloom preservation workshop

Brian Korthals/Daily Globe Minnesota Historical Society outreach conservator Bob Herskovitz explains how best to preserve papers, documents and photos during a workshop Thursday afternoon in Worthington.

Talk about it

WORTHINGTON — Carol Hoehn gently lifted the cover from a small, flat cardboard box to reveal the wedding gown and veil that had been worn by her mother back on Oct. 12, 1938.

“It’s been in this box ever since I can remember,” said Hoehn, one of about 20 people who attended an heirloom preservation workshop Thursday afternoon in Worthington. The event was led by Bob Herskovitz, chief outreach conservator at the Minnesota Historical Society.

Herskovitz has been traveling the state, presenting free workshops on historical preservation in hopes of getting people to document their stories, record their oral histories and preserve the pieces of their past.

“The reason is we’re losing history as the boomers are getting older and passing away,” Herskovitz said. “The things that you have are things, but there are stories with those things.”

Carolyn VanLoh of rural Westbrook talked about a stack of calendars that her mother-in-law used to record the events of the day. She had thought about taking excerpts from the calendars, spanning from about 1946 through the 1980s, and compiling them into a history.

Herskovitz encouraged VanLoh to reproduce the entire calendars — not just bits and pieces from each month — to preserve the written history.

“That’s why we have long winter nights in Minnesota,” he said of the time it will take to do the project.

For two hours, Herskovitz answered questions about everything from preserving books, papers and photographs to film and slides, metals and a silver belt buckle.

The silver buckle was brought in by Arthea Raak, who explained that the piece was worn by her great-grandmother on her wedding day. The buckle, about 135 years old, was tarnished. Herskovitz suggested using a product called “Tarni-Shield” which is available locally, to remove the tarnish.

Mary Smith of Brewster brought in a December 1854 edition of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, which was missing a cover. She was told to store the book in an acid-free, 1-piece corrugated adjustable book box, which will keep the book protected.

The boxes are available from a variety of companies who sell archival products, and the Nobles County Historical Society has several catalogs on hand for people interested in looking for products.

Hoehn brought in her mother’s wedding gown in hopes of finding out how best to preserve it for future generations. She learned that the original box it was stored in was not appropriate, but that an archival, acid-free box — large enough to avoid multiple folds of the gown — would be best.

Herskovitz suggested acid-free tissue paper be rolled up and placed within the sleeves of wedding gowns and between the folds.

“You want to have as few folds, creases and wrinkles as possible,” he said.

Other tips Herskovitz offered included:

• An artist’s palette knife can be used to remove photographs from the old, magnetic-type photo albums. Herskovitz demonstrated carefully slipping the knife behind a corner of the photo and working it back and forth to get the photos off of the page. On a related note, he said people should not use glue as an adhesive for photographs, but rather to use photo corners or a special tape (No. 415) manufactured by 3M that has an acrylic adhesive. The tape is sold by archival suppliers.

• Important documents and papers that are not printed on acid-free paper can be preserved with a special type of water-free spray. Also, Herskovitz said people should not use tape to piece together documents that have been torn. Instead, he suggested they encapsulate the papers between mylar for preservation.

• If people are storing papers in plastic sleeves, they should make sure the plastic is archival quality, that it contains polypropylene and that it does not contain harmful PVC. Products labeled as containing no PVC are best, he said.

• Linens and doilies should be stored flat in acid-free boxes, with acid-free tissue paper placed between each piece. Herskovitz said the tissue paper is not necessarily needed if the pieces are cotton or linen.

• Film, video and photo slides should be converted to CDs and DVDs for preservation. With VHS tapes or film, Herskovitz recommended they be played at normal speed at least once per year to keep the tape wound tightly around the spools.

• Metals containing rust should be treated with the finest gauge of steel wool and WD-40. Once the rust is removed, Herskovitz said a thin layer of non-silicone wax can be used to help preserve the metals.

• If people find insects in their stored linens, Herskovitz suggested putting the items in the freezer at minus-20 degrees for 48 hours, bringing the pieces back to room temperature for 24 hours, and then refreezing again at minus-20 for 48 hours.

“That will kill all insects and their larvae,” he said.

Tags: state and region, news, minnesota, historical, societycarol, hoehnheirloom, preservation