Saving Your Fair’s Heritage………………………..…………………………....by Ssn Sark


Editor’s Note: While at a workshop in St. Augustine we had the pleasure of having Susan Sparks join us. She was “a wealth of information” so we asked her to share with all of us in this newsletter. Our thanks to Susan for writing this.


We all have one: a closet, hallway, loft in a building, where we


pitch the history of our fair or event. Usually this area is ignored or forgotten until we need to reference some of the history of our fair or event. There are many important reasons to organize and protect these items. Maybe you are celebrating a 100-year anni- versary and would like to show a timeline as to how far the event or facility has come in those 100 years. Possibly you are upgrad- ing your fairgrounds and this entails tearing down one of the old- er buildings and you need photos to use in the fund raising efforts towards the replacement building. Perhaps the newspaper wants to write a human-interest story as a lead up to your event. The question then becomes how do we conserve and retrieve these items for future generations? First let’s explore the meaning of conserve – to keep something,


especially an important environmental or cultural resource, from harm, loss, change or decay. Your collection of fair “stuff” is a cultural resource. Protecting it is important, considering the rapid changes in our agriculture communities. For example, I have spent many hours looking at old newspapers from the 1800s and I can tell you that our current “pretty pig” is not what the industry was looking for in the 1800s. To conserve, first you need to assess the collection and priori-


tize the dangers. Is it stored in a climate-controlled environment? Ultimately the collection should be stored in an air-conditioned and heated area but I realize that may not always be possible. In that case try to control the humidity. Humidity is more of a dan- ger than storing the collection in an area that may be cold during the winter and hot in the summer. Remove all metal fasteners and rubber bands as these will degrade rather quickly and leave residue on the collection. Is the storage area pest controlled? An industrious mouse can


destroy your collection in a matter of weeks or paper-eating bugs will create Swiss cheese like holes in your paper products. Do you have scrapbooks full of old newspaper clippings? Unfor-


tunately the acid in the newspaper clippings or book pages might be discoloring or destroying the articles. The best way to address this is to purchase acid free tissue and place a sheet of tissue between each page. Scrapbooks and premium books can be scanned and preserved on hard drives. Photos can be stored in acid free folders after scanning. Old VCR footage should be con- verted to a digital format such as .MOV or .MPEG and burned to DVDs and also copied to a hard drive. As for storing videotapes of any type, due to the nature of the materials, their shelf life is questionable, regardless of the storage method. After all that hard work, be sure to have at least one duplicate


of all the hard drives stored in an offsite location as added insur- ance. Most importantly, do not destroy the originals but store them in the best conditions you can and use copies of the scanned documents and photos in any displays your fair may have a need for. Loss is a large concern for fair collections. Losses can occur


from employees, volunteers, or the general public that may be working on special projects. For example, you may have had a racetrack at the fairgrounds and the local race club wants to bor- row the scrapbooks to work up an article or special exhibit. How do you ensure you’ll get all the loaned out materials returned? The best way to prevent this type of loss is to have a policy in


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place such as - all items have to be utilized only at the fair office. Or if that is not possible a sign out sheet with contact information and possibly a deposit of money left to ensure the return of the items could be used, or digitize the collection and post it on your website. A word on digitizing your collection and posting it to your website - this is a wonderful idea and it will drive traffic to your website. Old photos seem to generate the most interest. Another example would be an employee or volunteer digging around for an extension cord or pencils and finding the closet full of fair paraphernalia and feeling that the management doesn’t care about the items and that they can just take what they want from the closet. This is how items like these end up on eBay! Here is an example: I helped work up a collection from a fair that had photos of President Regan in it at one time. All the photos of Regan campaigning were missing and the fair was left with pho- tos of just the signage that was displayed during the visit. Knowing what items you have in your collection can help you


keep track of loss. Have someone in the office compile a list of all the items in your collection. This will also make retrieving infor- mation much easier. The list of items can also be posted on your website. So maybe you are the lucky individual that gets to work on a


display of the history of your fair. Here are a few things to keep in mind. Photos that will be put on display need to be scanned and print-


ed and the prints used in the display. Direct sunlight can and will fade original documents and photos. If originals are used try to minimize the amount of time they are on display. Glass framed photos will stick to the glass if kept in a high humidity environ- ment. Tape of any kind needs to be avoided on your originals. Original scrapbooks and premium books can be put on display


but anything the patrons touch should be a copy. Take a scrap- book and scan and print the stories that you want to highlight at this year’s fair and then display the copy where the public can get a closer look at them. Lamination of items on display or otherwise should be avoided


unless it is a copy of the original. Lamination cannot be reversed and the plastic and glues used in the process will eventually dis- color and destroy your originals. A better material to use is poly- ester film usually sold under the brand name of Mylar and defined as Polyester Film: A common name for the plastic polyethylene terephthalate. Its characteristics include transparency, colorless- ness, and high tensile strength. Chemically inert, it is useful in preservation. Often used in sheet or film form to make folders, encapsulations and book jackets, its thickness is measured in mils. Common trade names are Mylar® by DuPont and Melinex™ by


www.gaylord.com/ or other archival suppliers. For help in financing the conservation of your collection please


visit Florida Department of State, Division of Historical Resources. They have a Small Matching Grants Program. Application is post- ed on line at http://www.flheritage.com/grants/ For more


resources/care/index.html The easiest way to sum this up is to remember the phrase “do no harm” if it cannot be reversed, unstuck or undone, don’t do it to an original item. Instead use a copy!!


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