Hi Stephen,

It has been our experience over the past 25 yrs. that quality, plain  
acid-free white paper sleeves are all that is required for safe  
storage providing the surfaces are thoroughly cleaned & keep in a  
reasonable environment.  All quality text stock produced today is  
buffered & will have a minimum lifetime of 50 years.

Plastics sleeves should be avoided & there is simply no documentation  
to justify the cost of rice paper sleeves other than the abundance of  
rice pulp in the world.  Just another high-end audio gimmick.

What is most critical to long term storage of vinyl & shellac discs is  
thorough cleaning.  Thorough cleaning affords long term protection  
against mold & mildew growth for both media by removing the feed  
stocks required for growth.  Until a year ago we stored over a  
thousand thoroughly cleaned shellac & vinyl discs dating back over 100  
years, many in old, contaminated sleeves that were only "cleaned" by  
being aired out.  Some were stored in the open, some in closed metal  
cabinets & all in an 1890's home that had never been renovated,  
without air conditioning, having original gravity feed heating [winter  
temps keep at 50-55F.  After more than 20 years, representative  
samples played without any indication of damage & by light microscopy  
were free of growth.  The standing mold & mildew levels within this  
home required me to wear an MSA mask with a HEPA filter to avoid  
serious assault to my allergies if visits were longer than 10 min.

The most critical feature is thorough cleaning.

Regards,

Duane Goldman

On Aug 17, 2008, at 6:54 PM, Stephen M.H. Braitman wrote:

> Hi, Folks:
>
> I wanted to get some feedback from the folks here on the ARSCList  
> what they think about the various archival preservation products out  
> there.
>
> The goal is to archivally preserve an old vinyl LP and its jacket.
>
> Bags Unlimited offers the most variety of products. They have a "  
> "Rice-Paper" Style HD POLYETHYLENE & ACID-FREE PAPER" for the disc.  
> Is this the best thing?
>
> For the LP jacket, the thickest they offer is a "6 mil POLYETHYLENE"  
> jacket sleeve without a flap. The thickest Polyethylene with a  
> sealable flap is 3 mil.
>
> They also have a 4 mil Polyester (Mylar) jacket sleeve without flap,  
> and a 2 mil with flap.
>
> They also have LP jacket inserts, which can go inside the LP jacket,  
> or 12" jackets to store the disc outside the jacket.
>
> If there are other companies with better supplies of these types of  
> products, I'd appreciate the recommendations.
>
> Regards,
>
> Stephen
>
> -- 
> Stephen M.H. Braitman
>
> COMPLETE MUSIC APPRAISAL, ARCHIVAL, AND DISBURSEMENT SERVICES
>
> The WEB SITE: http://www.MusicAppraisals.com
>
> The BLOG: http://www.NeedleScreech.com
>
> The COLUMN: "The Picture Sleeve Archive," Goldmine magazine
>
>
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