Rolled storage

ROLLED STORAGE (oversize sheets of paper, canvas, etc., such as posters)
Below are collaborative agreements created jointly by Houghton Conservation and TS Manuscript Section end processing. Basic instructions for rolling and labeling the posters/large sheets are viewable in a brief powerpoint presentation, using a mockup as a visual. *NOTE: Oversize sheets are sometimes called "posters" because these instructions were formed during a project involving a large collection of posters. We expect additional collections of posters to be acquired in the future.

When to Select Rolled Storage
Rolled storage is appropriate for collections which will not fit the largest box size of 24 X 36 x 3” and for which there is no flat file storage space. PF Cabinet #2 and #3 (white flat files on Houghton Basement) drawers limitations are 40 x 60"). If items are brittle, have multiple tears longer than 1 cm, or present difficulty in unrolling, please consult Preservation before proceeding with this housing option. Recommendations may include sandwiching such items between sheets of mylar, using an inner sheet of paper interleaving if media is friable, i.e. unstable, powdery, flaky, etc., and making sure mylar only touches paper interleaving rather than the actual adjacent posters.

Preferred Supplies for Rolled Storage:
Boxes
Heritage® Archival Tube Boxes 40” and 60” Boxes in 4.5 and 6” diameters

Interleaving
for 40” width boxes:
Metal Edge PBR 4050, Paper, Permalife Roll, 40 x 50" roll
(may have to trim the 40" dimension to approx. 36" for most rolls, to allow for corrugated tube anchors at either end)

for 60” boxes:
Legion Paper Interleaving 90gsm 60"x300'
(first ask Houghton Preservation staff. Sometimes we borrow from Weissman Center).

Mylar outer later to protect from dust
Preservation may be able to procure sheets from Collections Care in Widener as needed.
(sheet need only be large enough to wrap around the tube once with about 3" overlap)

I. Procedures for Rolling Oversize sheets onto tubes (with video and pictures)

First prepare the box by removing the core (tube) and feeding cloth tape through the holes available in the tab construction. The tape should lay flat and be long enough that a bow can be tied around the whole box when the lid is on. This is the method of closure for the box.

Inserting the cloth ties:

II. Preparing the stack of sheets/posters and interleaving:

All sheets/posters should have interleaving between them. There will be a final (unnumbered) sheet of interleaving covering the last item as a barrier against the tube itself. (Exceptions for interleaving such as posters that have canvas backing should be verified with Preservation before the interleaving is omitted.)

Layer sheets (posters) of approximately the same size and interleaving together in a stack

Posters of a similar size can be stored together with a maximum number of 10 posters per roll.

If there is a difference in the size of the posters, layer the stack so that the largest item is on the outside of the roll and the smallest is on the inside of the roll.
Slightly stagger both the posters and the interleaving sheets within the stack and do not align either the head or tail of the sheets within the stack. Staggering the stack reduces the thickness and the hard edge that the rest of the roll will rest against. Pencil the call number onto diagonal corners of the posters and interleaving. This is to ensure that the posters can be identified no matter which end is used to start the roll. It doesn't matter if you choose upper left/lower right or upper right/lower left, as long as you are consistent within a roll. The interleaving sheet that is below a given poster is the one that will help identify it, should the posters get out of order when they are removed from the roll.
Weight bottom and top edge of stack.
- A mini-Mockup of rolling posters or large sheets

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Below: the first sheet/poster is set on top of its interleaving.

Below: 10th (last) poster on top of the 10th sheet of interleaving. Numbering that corresponds with that of the sheet (or poster), is penciled onto the interleaving sheet below it.

Below: penciled numbering on verso of last folder in lower left corner.

*NOTE: numbering also occurs on the opposite (diagonal) corners at the top of each sheet, so that the stack can be rolled and items identified from either end.

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Preservation can help decide when interleaving may be omitted
Below is a stack of canvas-backed posters that did not require any interleaving. They were marked in pencil exactly as the paper posters were marked.

III. Rolling sheets onto the core support

Place core support (tube) at top or bottom edge of stack and position so that the core is centered and at least 2 inches of the core is exposed on either side of the stack.

Measure ends to center before rolling
Remove weight from core end and begin rolling (go slowly)
Hold even tension as you are rolling so that there are no gaps and the roll does not telescope. (The roll should not be loose and multiple edges of items should not be visible.

Below: examples of "telescoping". (A stack of papers rolled with uneven tension will "telescope", as will a large roll of mylar if carried upright without support underneath).

Preventing telescoping:

Once the stack is rolled, wrap the entire thing in a small sheet of Mylar cut to a length that can circle the core with about 3" overlap. Then tie with cloth tape. The roll should have at least 2 cloth ties. A third tie can be added for larger rolls.
(*NOTE: the following video omits the last step of covering the rolled tube with mylar before tying–see below)

Below: finished rolls covered in mylar (which was omitted in the video). Shown also is the top half of one of the corrugated "anchors" being reinserted to hold the tube in place.

Tying the box

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Box labels
Shown above at right is a temporary (green) removable label, which can be reaffixed as needed so as to be visible before the boxes are ready to ship offsite. As with other boxes that ship to HD, the final label should be on the short end. As of this writing, these 4 and 6 foot boxes will be stored on the top shelves in the Depository.

IV. Procedures for Shipping to HD

Sending tube boxes to HD requires special coordination.

Alert Public Services to the number and size of tube boxes that need to be transported.
Public Services will request the oversized materials truck and schedule a pick-up time for the truck.

Santo Domingo Posters Slide Show (2019)

screenshots.makingfolderlabels.pptx