Hit the Books – But be Gentle

Written by: Sue MacKay

It is literally the language of the game – the stories that preserve the homers and heroics of more than a century of baseball history.

Most of that language – even in today’s digital age – is found on paper. And the preservation of that ink and wood pulp is critical to the preservation of the game itself.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and Archival Collection contains more than three million pieces, including half a million photographs, 30,000 books, 14,000 hours of original recorded media, 2,500 oral history interviews, 2,000 scrapbooks, 900 pieces of sheet music and a subject file on every player and every topic related to our National Pastime. The archive is the foremost baseball research facility in the world.

Fans of the game donate their treasured paper material to the Baseball Hall of Fame for a number of reasons. Many feel a great piece of mind knowing that their material will be housed in a climate-controlled space. These specific types of conditions are not found in a normal home environment and it is important that proper conditions match the type of material in the personal collection. Donated material can always be visited by family members and the materials are also available to scholars who wish to utilize the information to share with other baseball enthusiasts.

The stories of donors and their printed tales could fill an archive all by themselves.

-- Ralph Bloeser was an engineer working in Phoenix, Arizona and he had been collecting baseball themed comic books since World War II. He was thinking of retiring and he and his wife needed to downsize. Their new home would not have room for everything, including his comic books – and he decided to donate them to the archive. At the time, the Museum’s permanent collection contained less than half a dozen comic books and the library became the proud new home for 13 boxes of material that spanned the years from 1940-1960.

-- Rea Wilson, decided at age 77, to fulfill a dream that she shared with her husband. The couple kept a journal while visiting 30 Major League Baseball ballparks. They compiled this journal into a book about their incredible trek across the United States and the book, entitled “Rea’s Baseball Trek 2000” is now housed in the archival collection.

-- Baseball fan Olla Westgate lived in Kimberley, British Columbia ,and decided to record World Series games, play-by-play, so that her husband Ralph Westgate could read about the games when he returned home from work. She compiled 21 notebooks from 1948 to 1969 that contained hand-written accounts of the games, home field, weather conditions, time of game, attendance, umpires and whether each pitch was a called strike, or a swing and a miss. The notebooks are located in the archive and reflect the commitment that fans have toward one another and their passion for the game.

Olla Westgate donated her notebooks to the Hall of Fame Library, which preserves many first-hand accounts of the National Pastime such as this. (Milo Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

All donors can rest assured that proper and professional standards are utilized to house all material in the Hall’s permanent collection. When conservation is needed, materials are transported to conservation labs for assessments and treatment on a regular basis.

Paper-based material encompasses a large portion of our cultural identity and traditions but it is a very fragile substance. With proper handling and storage, the longevity of paper can be prolonged for future generations to enjoy.

Sue MacKay is the director of collections at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Paper Protector

The definition of a work on paper refers to flat, not bound, paper material that include documents, manuscripts, drawings, posters, maps and prints. Other paper-based materials are defined as books and artwork and all paper material has specific parameters for storage.

Much of the damage to paper material occurs through poor handling, storage and display. The care and maintenance of paper-based material is best achieved by following these guidelines:

  1. 1. Paper documents should not be stored in areas where there are extremes in temperature and relative humidity. Avoid attics, basements and other locations with a high risk of leaks. Preferable conditions are temperatures at or below 70 degrees and at or below 50% relative humidity. Photographs should be stored below 60 degrees and below 30% humidity. Brittleness can occur with dry conditions and mold can be a result of damp storage conditions. Mounting materials can also cause staining and discoloration.
  2. 2. Do not expose paper items to any type of light.
  3. 3. Handle paper documents with clean, dry hands or wear gloves and keep all food solids, liquids and smoke away from the material. Paper can easily absorb skin oils and perspiration, which can cause staining and degradation.
  4. 4. If damage is prevalent, contact a trained conservator. They will provide assessments and cost estimates.
  5. 5. Remove staples, paper clips, pins, and rubber bands. Do not use self-adhesive tape and/or glue. Remove any folds by unfolding and store paper material flat in acid-free archival storage boxes. Oversize papers should be unfolded and stored flat as well.
  6. 6. To prevent the transfer of contaminants and acids from one document to another, interleave acid-free tissue or acid-free buffered paper between your documents.
  7. 7. Use pencil, not ink, to make any necessary inscriptions.
  8. 8. Due to the nature of paper used for faxes and newspapers, this material has a very short life span. It is best to copy these materials onto acid-free paper. If a fragile item is going to be handled frequently, a copy should be made and the original should be stored and not handled.
  9. 9. Books should be shelved upright and supported on each side. Shelve similar sized books together and, if the bindings are damaged or fragile, store the books flat. Provide proper air circulation around the books as this will decrease the chance of mold growth.
  10. 10. Supportive protective enclosures, such as folders, mats, and acid-free document boxes are the best way to store paper-based materials.