The remains of said rubber band encountered today during an archival set up of a dozen Bridgton & Saco River Railroad accounting statements. The two-part forms all typed up for the bosses at the Maine Central to worry over. Reductions in costs, increases in costs, by the month and showing for each aspect of the railroad, its numbers...good and not so good.
First, the remains of the ancient rubber band must be dealt with. Clean work surface, check. Good lighting, check. Gloves, check. Sharp pocket knife, check.
The knife used to carefully remove the individual broken remnants of that former elastic band. Holding knife at a near horizontal aspect, the sharp blade easily and almost completely removes those old pieces. Again, because the blade is as sharp as a razor, there is no damage to the paper. Maybe a modelers X-acto blade would work too, but I like the knife.
Next , remove the pins used all those years ago to join the two pages of each monthly report together. No glue...thank God.
Now, because those sheets are all larger than 8 1/2" x 11", I seek out a new Itoya art portfolio from my archival supplies for use in housing this (perhaps one of a kind) accounting record of a year over in Bridgton. A carbon copy may exist in another collectors care, but that is unknown.
Before placing each paper sheet into the safety of the new portfolio, the deep folds must be carefully massaged out of the paper. Each sheet, one by one.
I was very lucky to have found no staining from the pins, little trace from the elastic and no cracks or tears from the many folds.
If you are a collector looking for a storage system for your oversized documents or photos, what do you use for ease of reference and protection?
