Re-housing Magazines
Once inventory has been taken, it is time to properly re-house the collection. Because of the acidic quality of some magazines it is important to house them in acid free cardboard boxes and in some cases include a sheet of acid-free tissue paper in between each magazine. This will help to slow deterioration.
Arrangement
The magazines should first be split into 2 groups: accessioned magazines and non-accessioned magazines. Accessioned magazines should be organized by accession number in ascending order. The magazines that have not been assigned an accession number should first be grouped together by title, then arranged in ascending order by issue date. Typically, there will be many magazines where there is only a single issue. These magazines can be grouped together and arranged by issue date in ascending order. If there are magazines that are especially fragile, set those aside because they will need to be housed separately from the other magazines. Once you have the arrangement scheme in place, the re-housing can begin.
Fragile magazines should ideally be housed in plastic sleeves and (depending on the size) stored in a clam shell acid-free box.
Acid-free Cardboard Boxes
Most magazines will fit into a standard legal sized box, but many magazines published in the early 1900's are quite large and will need to be housed in a larger box. For the larger magazines simply store them in the larger boxes in either accession or date order layered with acid-free tissue paper. Take note of which magazines are in what box (ex: 2002.33.A, Large Box 1) this information will eventually be entered into the database.
Sizing
To house the standard sized magazines, you will need a large sheet of acid-free cardboard. The magazines will lie horizontally in the box so be sure the measurements will fit within the box. Lay the largest magazine on the cardboard sheet and trace a 1 1/2' to 2' margin with a ruler around the entire magazine. The size of the cardboard will eclipse the size of the magazine. Using a heavy duty cardboard cutter and a ruler, cut along the lines. You will need two pieces of cardboard exactly the same size, a front and back cover so to speak.
Once you have two pieces cut out, lie them on top of one another. Using an x-acto knife, poke a hole about 1' inside each corner of the cardboard. Make sure the hole goes through the bottom piece of cardboard. Take about 2" or 3" of museum twine and fold it over once, knot the open ends together. Thread this through both holes on one side of the cardboard, leaving plenty of slack.
Open the two pieces up like a book and set a grouping of about 15 to 20 magazines on the bottom side of the cardboard. Fold the other side over the top and thread another length of museum twine through the other side of the cardboard to secure the magazines within the cardboard. Again, make a label for the container so you know what magazines are inside.
Store the magazines in the boxes with the containers stacked one on top of the other in an alphabetical arrangement (ex: Svensk DAM Tidning magazines will be stacked on top of Sweden & America). Make copies of the container labels you made and attach them to the outside of the box. This will be useful when you are updating the database. That's it!
