Map Preservation

[NKOMO]

I picked up a substantial amount of US Govt. manufactured maps of southern Nicaragua from a gentleman awhile back. When I mean a substantial amount, I mean 50 or 60 maps. Some are duplicates. Now, you may ask why anyone would want to preserve maps of Nicaragua, but I collect militaria from this region from that time period. That being said, how would be the best way to store these maps? Should I store them folded or unfolded? I have them in my collection room where the there is little light and little humidity. Any help would be appreciated.
Arch

[MikeB]

Maps

Hello Arch-
Sounds like a great collection! Here are a few pointers that should help to keep your maps in good condition; normally maps should not be stacked. This may create the kind of environment (depending on how well you monitor your storage conditions,) where mold can grow. A little bit of air flow around the maps is a good thing too and can help avoid mold from growing. Also, acids in the paper can transfer from one map to another and produce staining. Maps that are folded, should always be refolded along the same lines. This may prevent cracks to the seams that can occur when folding across the seam. Humidity below 70% is always the best. If you can get it to 40-50% you should be doing great. Bugs too like to eat or reproduce in paper products like maps, so maintaining the proper temperature and humidity can help limit them. Do not hang them in direct sunlight as they can fade. UV glass is best to use when displaying maps, although you may not want to go to the expense with less valuable ones in your collection. Regular glass on less valuable maps does provide some protection in any case. Maps also do better opened up and stored flat. There are cabinets you can buy to accomodate them in this fashion if you are serious about storage. Hope this has helped.

Mike

[elkcollector]

Some useful pointers already mentioned by Mike,
all paper items suffer from 3 enemies,
1) Humidity
2) Temperature
3) UV

I just want to add one thing to the second point,
try to keep the temperature of the storage condition cool,
below 70F, never put items up in attic but down in basement!!