Properly storing magazines is of essential importance to ensure their long-term preservation and safeguard their historical, cultural, and sentimental value. Whether antique, vintage, or contemporary, magazines hold a wealth of information and serve as valuable artifacts of their respective time periods.
Here, a magazine cover is cleaned using eraser crumbs
Since its start in 1922, The Magazine Antiques has been America’s premier publication on the fine and decorative arts, architecture, preservation, and interior design for over 100 years. This private collection of The Magazine Antiques contained over 300 magazines, covering decades of the publication. The collection arrived at The Center in overall good condition but needed a better storage solution.
A section of the magazine spine is reattached using conservation adhesives.
Each magazine was carefully examined as the years and, in some cases, decades of wear and tear had started to affect the stability of the paper and binding. In some cases, the magazines had brittled with age and needed to be handled with extreme care. Bozena Szymanski, Senior Conservator of Works on Paper, Lauren Luciano, Associate Conservator of Works on Paper, and Katrina Flores, Associate Conservator of Works on Paper all worked together on this large project, surface cleaning each magazine, repairing the spines and addressing tears where necessary using Japanese tissue and wheat starch paste.
A section of magazine spine is reinforced with Japanese tissue paper.
The magazines were organized by year, and the collector wished to keep them grouped by year. Custom clamshell boxes were constructed to house each year of the collection. Due to the weight of the magazines, the clamshell boxes were made with double-walled matboard to ensure their safety, which was then wrapped in linen and affixed with a hand-stamped leather label.
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The Magazine Antiques with custom clamshell box
The clamshell boxes will protect the magazines, warding off dust, light, and moisture that might tarnish or fade the pages. By recognizing the importance of proper magazine storage, individuals, libraries, museums, and collectors can contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage.
Curious for more? Check out another magazine collection from The Center’s Archives: EBONY Books, a Theaster Gates Collection
