Why Ephemera Deserves the Same Care as Your Books

Letters, playbills, theatre programmes, bookplates, receipts, ticket stubs and dust jackets are the quiet supporting cast of a collection. They are also, almost without exception, made from the worst paper in the room. Until the late twentieth century, most jobbing printers used wood-pulp stock sized with alum-rosin, which produces acid as it ages. A first edition may have been printed on decent rag or cartridge paper; the dust jacket wrapped around it, and the letter tucked inside it, very often were not.

That is why ephemera yellows, embrittles and crumbles faster than the books it accompanies — and why a little deliberate care pays off so generously. You do not need a laboratory. You need inert materials, a stable corner of the house, and clean, unhurried hands.

Start with Acid-Free Enclosures

The single most useful purchase you can make is a mixed pack of archival enclosures. Match the enclosure to the item:

• Polyester sleeves for anything you want to read, display or handle without touching: playbills, programmes, fragile dust jackets. Polyester is inert and crystal clear. Polypropylene is an acceptable cheaper alternative; avoid PVC entirely, as it degrades and releases hydrochloric acid onto whatever it touches.
• Acid-free paper folders and four-flap folders for letters, manuscripts, bills and signed documents. A four-flap folder cradles an item without adhesive or plastic.
• Acid-free tissue for interleaving newspaper cuttings, which are the most acidic items most of us own. Better still, photocopy the cutting onto archival paper and store the original separately.
• Lignin-free, buffered boxes with drop fronts for oversize material — broadsides, posters, large playbills that will not lie flat.

Just as important is what to avoid: sellotape, lamination pouches, rubber bands, ordinary manila envelopes, sticky labels applied directly to paper, and any album with magnetic or self-adhesive pages. Repair tape on a torn jacket is not preservation; it is a future conservation bill.

Temperature, Humidity and Light

Aim for roughly 18–21°C and 45–55% relative humidity. Stability matters more than hitting a perfect figure: a slow seasonal drift is far kinder than a daily swing. Above about 65% humidity, mould becomes a real risk; below 30%, paper cockles and becomes brittle.

In practice, that means avoiding the loft, the cellar, the garage, the airing cupboard, the shelf above a radiator and any wall that is cold to the touch in winter. A spare-room wardrobe, an interior bookcase or a cupboard in a living space is usually ideal.

Light is the other quiet destroyer. Ultraviolet fades inks, dyes and dust jacket spines within a few years, and the damage is irreversible. Keep ephemera in closed boxes rather than on open display. If you must frame a favourite letter or programme, use UV-filtering glazing and rotate it out of the light every few months.

Handling: Small Habits That Add Decades

• Wash and dry your hands before you begin. Skip hand cream, which transfers oils.
• Cotton gloves are traditional but reduce sensitivity and can snag torn edges; clean, dry hands are usually better for paper. Use nitrile gloves for photographs and anything metal.
• Support an item from underneath with both hands. Never pick up a single sheet by one corner.
• Never force a crease flat, and never press an item under heavy books to "straighten" it.
• Annotate in pencil, and only on the enclosure — never on the item itself.

Flat, Upright or Rolled?

Most paper is happiest flat. Letters and documents should sit unfolded where possible, in a folder slightly larger than the item when open, in a box that is not overfilled — about three-quarters full lets you remove things without dragging them.

Dust jackets can be kept on the book inside a polyester cover, which protects both, or stored flat in a shallow box if you want to preserve the jacket separately from a reading copy. Do not compress them; pressure creates creases that never come out.

Large playbills and posters may be rolled, but only around a tube of at least 10cm diameter, wrapped first in acid-free tissue with the image facing outwards, then tied with cotton tape — never elastic. Store the roll horizontally, out of sunlight.

Pests, Damp and Knowing When to Stop

Silverfish and booklice thrive in damp, starchy environments, so keep food and drink away from your storage area, keep boxes off the floor on shelves, and monitor with sticky traps placed nearby rather than in among the paper. Never spray insecticide near a collection.

Keep a simple contents list — box by box, shelf by shelf — and a photograph of anything valuable. If a pipe bursts, that list is what an insurer will ask for.

Finally, recognise the limits of home care. If an item is mouldy, water-damaged, or genuinely valuable, consult a qualified conservator or a specialist bookseller before doing anything at all. Doing nothing is almost always better than doing something irreversible.