archiving question

[disneyworldsk]

I have been archiving old documents of my ancestors that my Dad gave to me from an unorganized mess he had. They are now organized including pictures, documents, letters. All of them are now timelined, placed into protective sleeves, and now into two notebooks.
My question is: I want to add my own notes, tips, facts, etc. to each page , like a book or a journal. How should I go about doing that. For example, if I want to identify a person's identity by name of a photo , should I put a flag post it with their name, or should I print out a piece of paper with their name typewritten? How do I insert my own comments into each document so the reader will understand more about each item?
Thanks!

 

[NotUrsula]

Please do not use post-it anythings; they are not meant for archival use, and the adhesive becomes brittle and stains over time. The colored paper may also bleed. https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/post-it-or-not-post-it

If the documents are in sleeves, print out your notes on each on acid-free paper, including any identifying information and a filename, and put the notes page and the sleeve containing the document in an acid-free file folder with the filename written on the edge in pencil. Do not attach any items to the original documents with anything, though you may mark them very lightly with pencil, which you should try to keep out of the central image or text block.

I'm assuming that by "sleeves" you mean plastic page-protectors, as you've put them in notebooks. Archival sleeves should be made from PVC-free polypropylene or polyester, and should be certified acid-free. It's better to put them in archival Hollinger (clam-shell) boxes in individual file folders than to store them in notebooks long-term, because notebooks let in light. https://www.universityproducts.com/archival-storage/archival-storage-boxes

If you feel that you must enclose additional information inside the plastic sleeve, use a piece of acid-free blank paper as a barrier between your document and your notes page in the same sleeve. Do not use staples or paper clips, as they rust over time.

 

[disneyworldsk]

Please do not use post-it anythings; they are not meant for archival use, and the adhesive becomes brittle and stains over time. The colored paper may also bleed. https://siarchives.si.edu/blog/post-it-or-not-post-it

If the documents are in sleeves, print out your notes on each on acid-free paper, including any identifying information and a filename, and put the notes page and the sleeve containing the document in an acid-free file folder with the filename written on the edge in pencil. Do not attach any items to the original documents with anything, though you may mark them very lightly with pencil, which you should try to keep out of the central image or text block.

I'm assuming that by "sleeves" you mean plastic page-protectors, as you've put them in notebooks. Archival sleeves should be made from PVC-free polypropylene or polyester, and should be certified acid-free. It's better to put them in archival Hollinger (clam-shell) boxes in individual file folders than to store them in notebooks long-term, because notebooks let in light. https://www.universityproducts.com/archival-storage/archival-storage-boxes

If you feel that you must enclose additional information inside the plastic sleeve, use a piece of acid-free blank paper as a barrier between your document and your notes page in the same sleeve. Do not use staples or paper clips, as they rust over time.

Thank you. I wanted it to read like a book, that's why I placed them into the protective (acid free on amazon) sleeves and then into a notebook. They were stored away into a suitcase for decades but no one ever looked at them or learned from them. I felt if I organized them and put them in timelines and by family groupings (maternal and paternal sides) they would have sense and be more like a family journal.
I just really wanted to then put my own notes for people to know more information about what they're looking at within the book . making it more like a story. As a fail safe, I will somehow figure out how to put them scanned in the same order so they're on a digital version. That part will be challenging for me because i'm not a big tech person.
Is there a safer way I can just put a note or two that will preserve the picture or document but to include my own small note. I didn't want to have a large piece of paper, just a post it size blurb. How can I do that without compromising the original?

 

[NotUrsula]

Well, you can put a small piece of neutral-color archival paper in the sleeve (print side away from your archival document, though putting any paper into contact with old paper is likely to cause acid to migrate from the old to the new paper), or you could use archival paste to attach a small note to the outside of the sleeve. The issue is that your archival documents themselves are almost surely acidic, and it acts sort of like sunlight; a small note sitting against it is fairly likely to leave a square mark as the two different-composition papers react to one another.

If you want to read them like books, I would suggest that the smoothest order for reading would be perforating your notes pages and interleaving them with the sleeves on the rings, so that the notes are facing the document they describe. You can buy pre-perforated acid-free printer paper to make life easier. If you just want to write them by hand, use pencil.

 

[disneyworldsk]

Well, you can put a small piece of neutral-color archival paper in the sleeve (print side away from your archival document, though putting any paper into contact with old paper is likely to cause acid to migrate from the old to the new paper), or you could use archival paste to attach a small note to the outside of the sleeve. The issue is that your archival documents themselves are almost surely acidic, and it acts sort of like sunlight; a small note sitting against it is fairly likely to leave a square mark as the two different-composition papers react to one another.

If you want to read them like books, I would suggest that the smoothest order for reading would be perforating your notes pages and interleaving them with the sleeves on the rings, so that the notes are facing the document they describe. You can buy pre-perforated acid-free printer paper to make life easier. If you just want to write them by hand, use pencil.

so i guess it's bad I put two documents, front and back, touching each other within one protective sleeve.

 

[LuvOrlando]

So my family albums are sort of like this and I organized them by using 3 prong binders because this allowed for different size sheets in between.
Every so often I slide in a full sheet sleeve with notes and mementoes in between to give context etc, you could easily fit a sheet of paper into the full sheet. Mine were all Hallmark but I'm sure there are others now.

Another thought would be to make a project of making all the images digital with a scanner and then creating a custom album with Shutterfly.
If you are really into it once they are digital you can always pick up a digital frame just for this collection

 

[NotUrsula]

so i guess it's bad I put two documents, front and back, touching each other within one protective sleeve.

It's not optimal. Industrial-era paper (pre-1980s, mostly) is usually very acidic, and that causes inks and paper pigments to "shadow" in some cases. What you risk is that print or ink might bleed from one document to the other.

It's would be an improvement to put a blank sheet of acid-free paper between them as a barrier.

 

[disneyworldsk]

It's not optimal. Industrial-era paper (pre-1980s, mostly) is usually very acidic, and that causes inks and paper pigments to "shadow" in some cases. What you risk is that print or ink might bleed from one document to the other.

It's would be an improvement to put a blank sheet of acid-free paper between them as a barrier.

when i type acid free paper on amazon all of them are 'tissue paper'. is that what i'm getting? Thanks!!!

 

[NotUrsula]

when i type acid free paper on amazon all of them are 'tissue paper'. is that what i'm getting? Thanks!!!

letter-sized acid-free plain white, $9.97/ream
https://www.amazon.com/Hammermill-P...cid+free+ream+bond,office-products,136&sr=1-7

letter-size pre-punched, acid-free plain white, $11.57/ream

https://www.amazon.com/Hammermill-Printer-Paper-Premium-Laser/dp/B005D98BQI/ref=sr_1_47_mod_primary_sns?keywords=acid+free+punched&qid=1666505679&s=office-products&sbo=GLaw0Fx56FiNH/iZ+6XKiQ==&sr=1-47

You can also use archival tissue paper, but in a binder with poly page sleeves it tends to slip downward with gravity and develop creases.