Christe Raber

Preservation Techniques for your Family Heirlooms

Part II - Textiles

Many families have textiles in their personal, family collections.  Textiles include clothing, uniforms, blankets, quilts, coverlets, baby clothes, wedding gowns, handkerchiefs, doilies, and pillowcases.

Well meaning people have these items tidily stored away in cedar chests, or cardboard boxes filled with tissue paper. Neither of these storage scenarios is appropriate for long-term textile storage.  Delicate
 textiles need very specific care and there are a few things people can do to store their textiles in an environment that will prolong the life of these cherished family heirlooms.

A few general rules for textile preservation include handling the textiles as little as possible.  You should wear clean, white cotton gloves if possible.  Or, just wash your hands frequently to remove damaging skin oils.  Only in rare cases should textiles be cleaned.  Quite often, dirt or stains on a textile are much less damaging than the cleaning process to remove the dirt or stain.  If you must wash your textile, hand wash it in the bathtub or sink using a dye free, perfume free detergent.  After washing the textile with detergent, wash it a second time, to make sure all of the detergent has been removed.  Remaining traces of detergent can be damaging to textile fabrics over the years.  Special pastes designed to gently clean items yet leave no trace behind in the fabric are available through conservation supply catalogs.

Textiles need to be stored in an acid-free environment.  Cardboard boxes, tissue paper, cedar chests, any material made from wood pulp, have a high acidic content.  The acid in these storage items will react with the delicate fibers in your textiles.  This process, known as acid migration, can cause irreversible damage to your textiles.  In addition, items stored in plastic containers, such as plastic storage boxes or garment bags, are also at risk.  Plastics are made from unstable chemicals that break down and “off gas” over the years.  While this off gas is not toxic to people, it is definitely toxic to your textiles.

 

Lining ordinary cardboard boxes with aluminum foil prevents acid migration.

Textiles should be packed in acid free boxes with acid free tissue.  These products are becoming available in some area retail shops, so check your local office supply store to see what is available.  Acid free cardboard boxes are more expensive than your average cardboard box, but they are a relatively inexpensive way to safely store textiles. 
The most inexpensive way to package your textiles that still provides a safe environment is to line regular cardboard boxes with aluminum foil.  The foil will prevent acid migration between the textile and its acidic container.  However, you should still use acid-free tissue as a packing material. Acid free tissue should be changed periodically, approximately every one to two years, as it will absorb the acid from textile fabrics. 

Overall environmental conditions for storing textiles once they are safely packed in acid free storage are much the same as for photographs and documents, which we discussed in last months column.  Humidity should be between 40 and 60 percent, but, more importantly, the humidity should remain constant throughout the year.  Temperature should also be stable. Changes in temperature and humidity stress textile fibers.

Acid free storage materials and textile conservation products are available from companies such as Gaylord Brothers, Light Impressions, or University Products.  These companies are accessible on the World Wide Web, or contact the Wyandot County Museum for catalogs.