The following announcement may be of interest to those of you with documents
that hav been previously laminated.
Iona McCraith
AAO Preservation Consultant

SMITHSONIAN'S ANTHROPOLOGY CONSERVATION LAB RELEASES LAMINATION GUIDELINES

"Guidelines for the Care of Works on Paper with Cellulose Acetate
Lamination" is now available online from the Anthropology Conservation
Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution:
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/anthro/conservation/lamination

Laminated papers, present in archives across the country, may pose serious
problems for archival collections. Lamination was a popular preservation
method adopted by many institutions handling large collections of archival
materials. First introduced in the 1930s, it quickly became the primary
choice for repairing and strengthening papers on a large scale. Conservators
now recognize that the materials used in lamination may degrade, damaging
the very objects they were intended to preserve.

This report:
- explains the major problems associated with lamination
- provides a key to determining if a collection includes laminated papers
- describes how to assess the condition of laminated objects
- outlines steps that archivists and collection managers can take to reduce
risks to their collections
- provides a list of resources for further study
- provides a glossary of lamination terms.

The Guidelines were developed as part of a larger conservation project to
address the needs of the artwork collection of the National Anthropological
Archives. Major funding for the project was provided by the Getty Grant
Program and Save America's Treasures.

For additional information, contact:
Dr. Candace Greene
[log in to unmask]
Department of Anthropology
NMNH-MRC 112
Smithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 73012
Washington, DC 20013-7012