Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-08
NEWSPAPER FILES
D|S|NTECRATE SOON
Paper Now Used Has No Lasting
Qualities.
SEEK SOME PRESERvATIvE
Chronicle Of Events Day By Day 0
Immense Practical Value.
Fxpert Declares.

The preservation of its newspaper
files, which constitute one of the most
valuable and sought-for collections of
the New York Public Library. has be-
come a problem of the most serious
concern to the bindery of that institu
ton, due solely to the rapid deteriora-
tion in the quality CT news print paper
manufactured for the use of daily pub
locations in recent years.
I'VE have made long and exhaust
i've search for a process which would
enable US 10 preserve for all time the
newspaper files of the Public Library
said Edwin II. Anderson, Director. 1T
is absolutely essential that we find
one. because the preservation of the
average newspaper of today, printed
on very inferior grades CT paper as
compared with news print paper of
the preceding generation. is limited to
but five or ten years If the files are not
protected otherwise than by ordinary
binding"
The deterioration in the grades of
news print paper has been noticeable
ever since the introduction of the
wood pulp process about 1898, says
Mr.. Anderson The files prior to that
date are in a comparatively perfect
state of preservation. One may turn
back, for instance, to the files of The
New York Times of April 10, 1865,
and read the Washington dispatch,
telling of the assassination of Presi-
dent Lincoln, and he will find the
paper about as flexible as when it
went to press. the only sign of age
being a discoloration. The print also
is we'll preserved and may be read
without more eye strain than recent
issue
Files Have Great Practical Value.
Now the preservation of our news
paper files is a matter to which ] at
tach considerable Importance" con-
tinued Director Anderson. They are
of immense value to future genera
tions as the current history of the
present great war epoch and they will
be used by thousands of readers years
hence just as they are applied for to-
day by thousands of visitors with
more immediate interests
1T is a mistake to think that the
newspaper division of the New York
Public Library is visited in most cases
by the man on the street who wishes
merely to kill time. That is by no
means the case. You have no idea
how many lawyers come here to con-
suit the back files of the various
newspapers in quest of information
bearing on litigation. From Wall
street come investigators in search
of old market quotations and CONNER
cial reports for comparative purposes.
Also in great demand is the informa-
ton furnished by the columns of
birth, death, and marriage notices.
Sometimes the reader is in search of
an heir, sometimes it is a mother in
search OF an clipping daughter.
Eve first tried dipping the news
papers into a solution, but that was
found to be most impracticable be-
cause the solution became hardened
when dried, and the papers We're so
brittle that they cracked Failing in
other experiments, we sent inquiries
all over the United States and to
many of the libraries and newspapers
of Europe, asking whether any meth
cd had been found for prolonging the
life of newspaper files.
"One OF the first answers 1 remem-
Der came from Switzerland. 1t was
something like this:
I'VE are looking for the same
process. If you find it let us know
Japan Supplies One Solution of
Problem.
I'm substance that was the sum of
all the information we received from
other places queried, so the investiga-
ton of newspaper preservation was
renewed once more in New York City.
Recently we heard of the produc-
tion by the Japanese of very thin
tissue, apparently made of some vege-
table fibre which is fined than silk.
The tissue is strong, and it is so
transparent that when laid oyer a
newspaper the print is very legible.
Experiments with this tissue SO far
have indicated it may be used with
success.
"It is simply pasted over both sides
of page and hardly doubles the
thickness of the paper 1t seems to
protect the paper. not only by herme-
tically sealing it, but by holding the
fabric together. We exposed a page
of a newspaper so treated on the roof
of the library for two months, in the
course of which it was subjected to all
kinds. of weather conditions. The in
juries caused to the paper so treated
were very negligible. the principal
change being in discoloration.
The tissue is expensive, and to pre-
serve all the files in the newspaper di-
vision. which represent every import
ant city of the United States and most
of the capitals of Europe, would en-
tail an investment which the library
is unable to carry at present with the
increasing drain on its already limited
funds. The library has installed
separate bindery for the newspapers
in the basement of the central library
building, and has offered to apply this
methods to the files of
those newspapers which are willing
to pay for the cost of materials used.
The proposal has been accepted by
some already as the only practicable
way yet found to save few issues of
their publications indefinitely for pub
lie record
MYSTERY of the Year.