Photographs mounted in a scrapbook, paper records covered in construction paper, items reproduced by early duplicating technologies such as thermofax and items stored with clippings from newspapers, exemplify some problems archivists often find. When possible, curators or staff remove the acidic material. Acidic paper not only self destructs at a faster pace than neutral or alkaline paper, it pollutes the neighboring materials with its acids. Staff usually photocopy news clippings onto acid free paper and dispose of the clippings. One can often remove a highly acidic report cover without damaging the unity of the materials within or losing intellectual content.
Photographs present a special problem.
If they are not fastened into the scrapbook with glue or tape, a curator may consider removing them from the scrapbook. Often, however, curators evaluate the context of the photographs as important enough to retain the scrapbook format. Whenever the photographs have been glued into the scrapbook, removing them usually damages the photographs. In such a situation, the curator may decide to leave the photographs in the scrapbook and interfile acid free tissue between leaves of the photographic album, thereby providing some absorption for a limited period of time. Since the interleaving eventually becomes acidic and no longer benefits the photographs, regular testing and replacement becomes necessary to assure the optimum environment.