STORING YOUR FOLDED POSTER

It's fine to store your poster folded under the proper conditions. You must realize that folds create a weakness in the paper so 2 things must be considered.

1) Every time you open and close your poster, you're putting extra wear on it. So, if you're going to be showing or handling the poster a lot, then it would be better to store it flat or 'unfolded' if possible.

2) Because of the weakness of the fold lines, it has to be kept as acid free as possible. Acid eats through the weakest points first..... normally the fold lines.

Now here's where we have to start making a few decisions.

Take a look at your poster!
Is it paper stock or card stock?

Are you wanting to store it standing up (like in a row like files in a storage box) or laying down?

If you have paper stock then you know that you need a more rigid holder if you want to stand it up.

Don't get confused by just trying to store them in the material that they were sent in from the studio. REMEMBER! The studio WASN'T trying to store them. They were just sending them out to be used (Yes, even the stills in the press kits are cheaper plastics with acid in them. They need to be removed and placed in better holders)

You can store them without placing them in some type of holder around each piece but it's NOT recommended UNLESS you store them in an acid free or museum quality storage box. If you put them loose without any type of protection, acid will rapidly do damage and you will drastically reduce the life of your collectible.

So let's look at a holder. Some people like to store their posters in envelopes. This is NOT recommended. Even coated paper is still paper which means that it's disintegrating itself and I don't want ANYTHING that's disintegrating holding MY poster. Plus I always liked being able to see it (even if it's folded), so I suggest a plastic holder. and NO NOT THE KIND AROUND THE HOUSE!!!

Cellophanes, PVC and plastic bags like the cleaners bags that you find around the house WILL NOT DO. They give very little protection and usually do more damage that good.

All plastics are NOT alike. Cheaper grade plastics contain acid also. You need to store your collectibles in a better grade material.

You need high grade untreated plastic OR the best that I've heard from all preservationist is mylar. The best place to get these are collector supply houses or collector shops. I recommend that you use the best grade that you can afford. Some people have larger collections so you may have to break it down if cost becomes a problem. Store your best in the best grade and the rest in as good as possible.

Once you've picked out your covers, then you have the choice of putting in some type of backing or not. It's better to have no backing than to have anything acidic. Acid in lower grade plastics and newspapers or regular paper will travel to your poster and start eating the fold lines. It's called 'acidic migration' so you MUST store your poster as far away from it as possible.

Keep your folded poster in a cool, dry place away from heat, humidity and light.

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PROS - it's fairly inexpensive, takes up a smaller storage area, usually easy to get to and move around, they can be sealed fairly tight against dust.

CONS - they can't be displayed and usually are difficult to show.

TIP: If you have several posters stored this way, be sure that you label the outside of the bag with all pertinent info to keep from reopening the bag. As your collection grows, this REALLY becomes important.
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