Preventative Conservation

For all materials collected in the library and the archive, the least common denominator with the greatest broad effect is optimal storage and long-term packaging that will help preserve the materials: vellum papers made from rags which have drawings upon them from iron gall ink, thin carbon papers that have remained as a copy of a letter typed on the typewriter, ephemeral thermal papers from fax machines, as well as brightly colored post-it notes covered with marginalia in an author’s library. Each year, between 6,000 and 8,000 files are filled with archive materials and labeled for long-term archiving. Annually, 800 to 1,000 of the green Marbach archiving boxes and more than 12,000 books are introduced into storage. A constant temperature between 18-19 ° C and a relatively stable air humidity of 50-55% RH corresponds with the storage standards for original holdings in paper materials and slows down the natural process of degradation.