UMCA Technical Leaflet

INSTRUCTIONS FOR STORING TEXTILES IN FLAT STORAGE

Flat textile storage is optimal for most textiles because it allows for the relaxation of fibers and seams.  Space limitations may prevent all textiles from being stored in this manner, but certainly all fragile or weakened textiles should be stored flat.  Heavily embroidered or beaded textiles are also good candidates for flat storage.  Important textiles within a collection are often put into flat storage because it offers them the most protection.

There are several types of flat storage, but they all fall within two main categories:

· Box storage

· Shelf/drawer storage within cabinets

Flat storage of textiles should always be enclosed (within boxes or a cabinet) to protect the textiles from light and dust.  Shelf or drawer storage within cabinets should always be constructed of inert materials such as baked powdered polymer on a steel substrate.  Boxes used for housing textiles should be acid-free cardboard.  They come in many different sizes for various types of textiles and can be acquired from archival suppliers.

Preparation of the textiles housing should be accomplished first.  Acid-free boxes should be lined with unbuffered acid-free tissue.  The baked polymer steel drawers or shelves should also be lined with tissue.

The first step in preparing the textile for storage is to remove all foreign material that may be detrimental to its condition.  Pins, staples and labels should all be removed.  All plastic sheeting or bags should be removed, as should all tissue not known to be acid-free.  The textiles should be vacuumed according to conservation guidelines (we can provide these for you).  They should be reasonably clean before being put into storage.

The textile is now ready to be put into storage.  It should be put into the largest possible box in order to reduce the number of necessary folds.  When items do have to folded, it is wise to reposition the folds periodically so that the folds are not re-creased along the same spot again and again.  Folds crimp the fibers, and repeated folding will weaken and break the fibers along the fold.  When folds are necessary, they should be padded out with a suitable material to reduce the severity of the fold.  Loosely crumpled, neutral pH, acid-free tissue is probably the best padding material, though occasionally polyester fleece may be necessary.

Textiles should not be placed atop one another, or stacked.  The weight causes great stress and crimping of folds, and frequently necessitates a later flattening treatment.  To access items in a stack, they must be rifled through; this handling and movement of textiles is not desirable.  Although the temptation to stack items within a box may be great due to space limitations, it should be avoided.  There is, however, an excellent solution to convert boxes into multiple layer storage.  Rigid liners or "shelves:" are cut from acid-free corrugated cardboard or acid-free polystyrene covered board (such as Fome-cor) to the length and width dimensions of the box.  The "shelves" rest on small ethafoam supports along the outside perimeter of the box.  By stacking the Fome-cor shelves on the ethafoam supports, a box can be created that has three or four separate shelves for textiles within it.  Little tabs of cotton twill-tape can be attached to the two outermost edges of the "shelf" to allow the entire shelf to be lifted out of the box without disturbing the textile.  Proper retrieval or depostion of a textile should ideally not disturb any other textile in the process.  This is a very effective and highly recommended method for maximizing flat textile storage while still maintaining excellent support and conditions for the textiles.

Space limitations are occasionally so severe that interim methods of stacking must be employed.  In this case, each textile should have an interleaf of acid-free tissue separating it from the next item.  The textiles should be sorted within the boxes, placing the sturdiest items on the bottoms of the boxes, and grading to the most fragile items on top.

Kristin Cheronis, Senior Objects Conservator,
The Upper Midwest Conservation Association, May, 1998