Historical Documents – What Not to Do

I was driving to work the other day and I heard a story on NPR that caught my attention. As I mentioned recently, I have become interested in archiving and preserving documents and other ephemera. Finding documents to preserve seems to be one of the first challenges, but that aside I have done a bit of research into how to do it well. Rainy days, like today, make me cringe a little because I know that humidity is the enemy of paper. It has made me cringe since my days of working at a bookstore. I'd walk into the store in the morning and past a table full of beautiful trade paperback books. All of their covers would be curled up, as if at a sort of clumsy attention. Clearly something had changed in the climate controlled environment overnight that had an effect on the paper. We would move the curled books to the bottom of the stacks to let the weight of the other books press them back into submission. There wasn't much to be done with the mass market paperback books (made of cheaper paper) that had puffed up as a result of the paper absorbing H₂O from the air.

I have purchased some acid-free plastic sheet protectors and notebooks in my enthusiasm to begin my new project. Then I heard this story on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/21/515410087/an-attempt-to-save-south-carolinas-historical-documents-is-destroying-them

Apparently, in the mid-twentieth century a method for preserving documents became popular – something that anybody who was ever in school in the 80's and 90's would be familiar with: laminating. You put a sheet of plastic on either side of a document and run it through the machine and voilà – your document is protected and impervious to spills and dirt. School papers and historical documents are different, though, and there were some very serious long-term effects of sealing paper inside of plastic.

I suppose we've learned a lot since the 1960's. The plastic sheet protectors that I bought are acid free (so the packaging says) and "archival quality". But, what will we learn in the next few years about these products? Will there be a chemical that we learn the hard way is doing damage that we are not currently aware of? One thing I think that we can be sure of is that we have learned the lesson of rushing into the latest craze. I feel that professionals have learned that time-tested methods are the ones to rely on, and if there is a new product or method available, they'd probably (hopefully) be skeptical; let others try them and watch for results before subjecting a state's original signed Constitution to the new ideas. Ideas that have consistently proven to be effective are about limiting the documents from exposure to damaging circumstances: humidity, light and unstable materials like glues, plastics and papers that are not archive-appropriate. 

I think in my next job I want to work in a place that preserves and repairs books. Perhaps that's where my true calling is. When that happens I'll be sure to let you know about it here. Until then, I remain,

Yours truly,

Earnie Painter

Rebirth

Early spring and abundant rain is bringing new growth of our Esperanza bush. I thought it woudl be appropriate for a Random Photo Day. Also, my cat, Anastasia, had to be in the photo. She's in the background, on the right-hand side. White with Black.

Driving Alone

"The first time ever I saw your face..." I know I heard that while I was driving, and I believe it was nighttime. We lived in a town about 20 miles from San Antonio, so San Antonio was where I drove frequently. I went to UTSA. I think that's when it started.

"I thought the sun rose in your eyes..." Driving the familiar road to school – a place I was supposed to go – on days that I didn't work, my mind began to move around inside its shell. I should probably have gone to a different school, studied something more practical, not worked as much, but I didn't have a lot of guidance or role models. A frustrated father who pretty much hated everybody and couldn't work for anybody – that was my role model. I knew I wanted Not That. Not an incredibly specific site to be aiming at.

I had discovered myself at work – at a grocery store. Small town grocery stores in the 80's and 90's were their own kind of social club. People leaving work would stand at their trucks or cars talking, and in about 15 minutes there would be a crowd of people around that truck. The tailgate would be pulled down and people sitting on it. Tailgating. I hadn't had much of a social life in school, so this was where I learned to interact with people. I had my first experience with friends, with approval, with infatuation, with knowing what it was to be a gay man in a straight world. I'm not sure which was the most powerful. The approval seems to have been the more damaging because it held me back – made me feel safe rather than feeling like I wanted to grow, to learn.

"And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave, to the dark and the endless skies..." As I drove, either to school, back home, to go out to clubs or just to drive around for hours because I could, my mind would wander around, thinking about this man or that, thinking about work, thinking about my family or just thinking about what would happen if I took the next exit to whatever city was on the road-sign, if I took that exit and drove. What if I just drove there, to that city, and never looked back? Thinking about it made the immense weight on my chest flutter a little bit at the edges. On those times that I drove into the night, which I did regularly and without any direction, I could get a glimpse of what it would feel like to be free. Free from the worry, the guilt, the hurt and all of those things that had weighed on my soul for as long as I could remember. The sign above the road indicating a distant city and the next exit, that sign meant possibility, a new life, a dream that was always just out of my reach. But, it was, in its own unclear, undefined way, hope.

Prisma Phone App

I have discovered a new phone app; it's called Prisma and it sort of picks up where Instagram leaves off, with regards to photo enhancing. It makes works of art out of your images. There are over 30 filters and they keep adding new ones. The filters create works in the style of various artists like Van Gogh, Lichtenstein, Munch and Picasso. They have worked to include all manner of artist styles – line drawing, pen & ink, artists like Thota Vaikuntam, Mononoke and Daryl Feril, and styles like comic books, posters and holiday themed. 

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Anastasia in the Sun

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Clarice in the Sun

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Salad

I've also used Prisma with another app called Layout, which allows me to combine several filters of the same image into one image.

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Anastasia in a Clay Pot

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Young Guitarist

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Hamburger (Made locally by Daniel's Burgers)

They have added their own social networking aspect to the app, but none of my friends are on it yet. (Which kind of defeats the purpose of the app.) So, I post on Facebook and Instagram and other places where my friends hang out. It's nice to have something that keeps me busy while I should be doing something productive, or when I am trying to go to sleep but can't. It's fun and it takes very little work on my part.

So, what do you think? Is this an app you'd use?

Reasons my Friend, Sunny, Should Blog

My friend, Sunny, as I have mentioned, is involved with the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Her main interest seems to lie in the reproduction of period costumes, and the idea of maintaining integrity to the era that is being represented by the group at the moment. She is able to incorporate her love of art history AND her love of research. She posts on Facebook when she finds something new and interesting.

I love to read what she posts and the conversations that she starts, so I told her that she should blog. Because, after all, I worked with her briefly – albeit in a different department – so, that entitles me to tell her how to live her life. She responded with a predictable list of excuses why she couldn't. I mean, "I don't want to" would be a legitimate answer. But, if you're going to give me lame excuses, I shall retort. Let's look at some of them, shall we?

"I don't have time"
Fair enough. She has two small children. But, she's posting on Facebook, so she has that time, which she could reallocate to the blog. And, I feel that what she puts on Facebook would be perfectly good material for a blog post. (The period costume and related posts, that is.) Not every post has to be 10 pages, complete with footnotes. Her posts are compelling and interesting, even to somebody who has never sewn in his life. (That would be me.)

"I'm not an Expert"
Sunny introduced me to The Modern Maker on Facebook. He is an expert on period costumes and he also is a professional – in making the costumes and also in lectures and books. While I've enjoyed what he writes, it's a bit over my head. I am more interested in what Sunny posts. Why? And, why should she care?

I am a likely follower of hers. Sunny would be much more likely than I to follow The Modern Maker because she is serious about the pursuit. I am merely interested; I am not a part of SCA and I don't have much interest in becoming a part of it. I do like her take on the topic, though. While she may not be the expert (and I'm not certain I agree), she is exploring. And, she has her own passions that she brings to it, and her own problems – like a life to live aside from the costumes, for instance. How does she balance it? Many people have to do this balancing act and they are likely (and grateful) followers. There are a lot of people like myself for whom her perspective is appealing. Don't believe me? Look at the number of people responding to her posts on Facebook.

"I'm too shy / scared / insecure"
Do it for your daughters. Show them what women can do. Do it for yourself. Every creative person knows that that feeling of insecurity, of being scared, is the next challenge to conquer.

Some thoughts from Kristen Lamb: Facebook may not always be around – or they, as a company, may not always be nice or cooperative. Your posts on Facebook are Facebook's property. Your blog posts are your own property.

So, maybe Sunny doesn't need to work right now. Perfect. Building a loyal following takes time. Kristen gives a general number of 200 posts before your online presence really kicks in. Then, all of this discussion, research and writing are your valuable commodity. Your followers are yours, not Facebook's.

"But, I love Facebook because I like to keep up with my friends." Great. That's how you promote your blog anyway. Not by "promoting" your blog, but by socializing with people of similar interests.

I'll close with two more thoughts:

1. I wish that I were HALF as passionate about ANYTHING as Sunny is about period costumes.

2. Every time I see her post a gem on Facebook, I feel like she's giving a part of her creative self to them, and she can't really get it back.

3. (I lied.) What does she have to lose? Maybe the cost of the blog/website if she starts on her own to begin with (which Kristen recommends and explains in her book Rise of the Machines.) But, there are free sites – Blogger and WordPress, for instance.

I know that Sunny has mentioned my suggestion on FB before, and her friends rallied around her, encouraging her. I get the feeling that she kind of wants to do it, but maybe doesn't have the confidence that she feels it would take. I hope that I have come across as encouraging and not being pushy. And, I hope Sunny knows that I would love to work with her while she builds a blog, if that's what she wants to do.

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This picture of her embroidery really stuck with me

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Finished embroidery

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Finishing up the cap

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Finished product (a detail from the image at the beginning of this blog post)

Okay, I'll stop now. Thank you, Sunny, for putting up with me. I hope to see you soon. Until then I remain...

Yours truly,

Earnest Painter