Archival Binders?

I am looking into a more efficient way to store my chapbooks and ephemera, and was wondering if anyone here uses archival 3-ring binders, such as the ones listed here:

https://www.archivalmethods.com/category/binders

Does anyone have experience with storing fine printed matter this way? And if so, any brand or solution that you would recommend?

Thanks kindly!

>1 Shadekeep: I don't know if you are in the UK or not but I think I'm going to be using these binders with the associated polyester binder storage pages. I've just had an A4 one arrive and I'm very pleased with the look of it, and it's sturdy. As soon as payday rolls around I'll buy some more. I'm going to use them to store my prospectuses, chapbooks, and ephemera. I can't provide any first-hand evidence of how they fare long-term but I took advice from my oldest friend, who is the archivist where I work, and my partner, who teaches archives (you can imagine what get-togethers around our place are like!) and they recommend this supplier and these products for long-term archival storage. They are a bit pricey, but I don't want to damage my collection.

https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Archival-Storage/Albums-Binders/...

A link to their binders and albums pages is here (they have quite a selection): https://www.preservationequipment.com/Catalogue/Archival-Storage/Albums-Binders

>2 TheTotalLibrarian: Excellent, thank you! I will look into them, and like you, I don't want to do it on the cheap only to discover some bargain plastic sleeve has discolored every item.

>1 Shadekeep: I’ve found these archival photo storage boxes work quite well, especially for Thornwillow Dispatch chapbooks: https://www.containerstore.com/s/office/craft-hobby/university-products-large-ar...

>4 const-char-star: Thanks, I do have some similar boxes from Lineco (and Hollinger Metal Edge makes good ones too). Much of my collection is in those at the moment, but there are certain chapbooks and ephemera I would like to shelve vertically. I like that some of the binders have slipcases as well, those will look nice alongside slipcased books.

I've taken a different approach for my ephemera ONLY. Chapbooks are a separate thing and I have no special storage method for them.

For my ephemera, however, I store that in acid/lignin free folders and matching storage boxes from Hollinger Metal Edge.

This method of storage suits my purposes, but it perhaps may not yours.

>1 Shadekeep: I would recommend taking a closer look at Itoya products https://itoya.com/ . I use them to store broadsides and other similar ephemera. I also use them for wood engravings and other individual prints that I don’t want to frame. Specifically, I use their The Original Art ProFolios https://itoya.com/products/presentation-book-portfolios/the-original-art-profoli...

They are 100% acid-free and archival safe. They also come in many different sizes - everything from 4” by 6” to 18” by 24”.

The best part is that they allow for easy access to one’s collection without a need to search through boxes and folders.

I purchased a number of these portfolios in various sizes and they work great. I was able to find them at a few local arts and crafts supply stores and on-line.

>7 vadim_ca: "Acid free" isn't applicable to plastics, despite the statement made on their web page. Instead, what you want is "inert" and polypropylene is inert and thus archivally safe. They look to be a very useful product. Thanks for bringing them to our attention.

I found that they are available in two stores locally. Excellent!

>7 vadim_ca: >8 Glacierman: Thank you both! I went ahead and ordered some binders, slipcases, and polypropylene sheet protectors from Bindertek for now to see how they go. It's great to have all these other options too (boxes, portfolios, etc), so thanks for sharing your own solutions.

I received the Bindertek ring binders and slipcases. They are of adequate quality, though the slipcases are not terribly durable (I managed to split the corner of one already) and the binders are excessively tight in them (one has corner abrasions from where the manufacturer slotted it in for shipment). I think they are okay for the price, but I'm unlikely to buy any further ones. I may look to Itoya for the next batch instead.

Then there's this. Might not be what you want, as it is plastic, but it looks to be a pretty good storage option for photos, documents, ephemera, chapbooks, etc.

>11 Glacierman: That's not a bad choice either. I'm not especially concerned what the case is made of, as long as it supports polypropylene sheets. The case will never touch the contents directly.

Received the binders and cases from Lighthouse, which was my second and final attempt to get ring-binders for my chapbooks and ephemera.

Glad to report that these are much superior to the Bindertek ones ordered earlier. The Lighthouse binders are also D-rings, but there are four rings, giving the page better support. The binder and slipcase construction is also superior in the Lighthouse products, much more sturdy.

I went with the modernist Grande Pur design, which has colored cloth over both the binder and slipcase. The effect is very handsome. The Optima F series was tempting due to its more traditional look, but in the end the minimalism of style and maximalism of storage on the Pur won me over.

A significant portion of my chapbook collection is now housed in three binders. I'll be getting a couple more, probably one for the remaining chapbooks and the other for ephemera. I can recommend anyone looking for a similar solution to give these a look.

Oh, those are lovely. Tempting.

May I ask here? I'll soon receive three or so 500-year old leaves from a book (some of them probably quarto sized others smaller). What's the best way to store them?

>13 Shadekeep: Did you get their Optima sheets, or something else?

>16 Glacierman: I got a few of the Optima sheets, the black-backed single and the four-pocket, to see how they work. I have a large stack of Samsill polypropylene sheets left from the first order and those fit the binders as well, so I transferred all the chapbooks already pocketed in those first. The pockets in the four-pocket sheets are just a little too small for most chapbooks unfortunately, so I won't be able to utilise those as much as I had hoped. But the Optima pages are nice quality, and the black backing shows off the contents well.

>15 Lukas1990: If it's that few sheets you may want dedicated protectors for each, like the kind of case one finds diplomas in. Those come in a variety of styles and you can have them embossed with the content's title if you like. (example - https://www.shoplet.com/Anglers-Diploma-and-Certificate-Holder/ANG204/spdv) It depends on the value (either monetarily or to you personally) of them, and how you wish to house and display them. The binder approach could certainly work as well, it's how many collectors keep old money for example. I would get very sturdy pages for something like that, and of course archival grade like what I'm using.

>15 Lukas1990: You should check Gaylord and Archival Products for your leaves:

https://www.gaylord.com/

https://archival.com/reinforcedlsleeve.html

I realised I never shared the results of the search. Here is my current set of Lighthouse Grande Pur binders, 6 with chapbooks and 1 with ephemera. The letterpress labels are courtesy Chad Oness. Instead of affixing them directly the binder, I created tabs from black cardstock, so that I can reorder or relabel the binders at will. They laid pretty flat at first, there is a little bit of warpage and buckling now, but I should be able to smooth them out again with the bone folder.

So far the system works great. Naturally, any time I find a product like this, it's the kiss of death, and Lighthouse is discontinuing this line. I hunted around various online stores and grabbed a few more, but when they're full it will be time to find another solution.

>19 Shadekeep: Looks really good. Great idea!

>19 Shadekeep: These are beautiful, thank you for sharing. Can you share a link where we might buy them?

>20 Lukas1990: >21 edkennedy: Thanks, and sorry for the late reply, was away on vacation.

There are still some orange ones available from Lighthouse in the US, they may have additional stock in other countries: https://www.lighthouse.us/grande-pur-ringbinder-incl-slipcase-orange.html (European listing: https://www.leuchtturm.com/grande-pur-ringbinder.html)

Unfortunately they have decided to discontinue the line, so the best bet to find them is to scour websites that sell binders to collectors and see if they have any in stock. These are often used by card and coin collectors. Just make sure to also get some archival sleeves to go with them. Happily, many brands of those work find with 4-ring D-style binders.