Archival Polyester: Inert material that protects materials from pollutants, dust, dirt, and fingerprints during handling, display, and storage. Archival polyester will not adhere to photographs or discolor paper or be conducive to electrostatic charge.

Archival Quality: An unregulated term often used in consumer marketing. Archivists, however, use this term to specify material that is inert, stable, acid-free or acid-neutral, and lignin-free that is suitable for permanent storage/housing.

Archive: A physical or digital collection of historical records and/or memorabilia.

Archives box: A container, usually the size of a document box, made from high-quality materials appropriate for the long-term storage of archival materials. Also known as a manuscript box.

Archivist: A professional with expertise in the management and preservation of valuable records. Typical activities include appraisal, acquisition, description, preservation, and the provision of access to records and/or management of an archival repository. Most archivists hold advanced degrees in Library and Information Science.

Arrangement: Archival materials are purposely organized in a way to create order and preserve context.

Buffer: An alkaline substance that can neutralize acids. A buffer made from calcium carbonate (chalk) or magnesium carbonate is often added to paper to compensate for residual manufacturing acids or from acidic environmental contaminants. Items best stored in buffered materials include paper, newspapers, photographs, ceramics, and plant specimens.

Cockling: A puckering of paper or similar flat material caused by uneven drying, shrinking while drying, or exposure to excessive heat and moisture.

Collection: Any materials determined to have permanent value and are stored together, in any format, and created by or received and maintained by an individual, family, or organization.

Condition Report: A written description focusing on the physical attributes of a collection, which centers on the state of preservation or risk.

Conservation: A specialized field that provides advanced scientific treatments of reversible stabilization that preserves an object in a way that retains its significance, integrity, context, aesthetic, visual appearance, and historical integrity. Conservation counters existing damage while preservation attempts to prevent damage.

Deacidification: A technique that increases the longevity of paper documents by raising the pH to at least 7.0. This process deposits a non-toxic alkaline buffer into the paper that neutralizes harmful acids. It does not require solvents or gases that can damage inks, adhesives, paper, or binding fabrics. The treated paper has a life expectancy of at least three to five times longer than those untreated documents.

Digitization: Also referred to as photography, digitization is the process of transforming analog information into digital form. Records can be digitized via scanning or photography.

Encapsulation: The process of placing a document in between two sheets of inert polyester (usually Mylar) that are sealed at the edges. This provides support and protects it from handling and the elements. The document will not be permanently fixed to the enclosure.

Flattening: A treatment that removes curls, creases, or cockles from a document to return it to its original flat condition. Typically involves using humidification to relax the document. They may also be flattened under weights or by using a suction table.

Finding Aid: A descriptive guide that provides context to a collection as well as biographical information, inventories, indexes, lists, and scope of materials, usually found within the catalog.

Folders: Used to house material and include the arrangement and material context through folder tiles.

Inventory: The process of documenting records in a location, typically at series level. Also referred to as cataloging.

Lignin: A paper component that leads to acid formation and the embrittlement of paper. Enclosures for preservation use should be lignin-free.

Metadata: Information about data that promotes discovery, structures data, provides context for the collection, and supports the administration and preservation of records.

Mylar: A polyester film.

Paper mending: Full reversible rehabilitation treatment to paper using a combination of tissue and a starch paste to locally join splits or tears or to reinforce cracks in a paper support. The purpose is to restore aesthetic unity of the sheet and to preserve its physical integrity.

Photographic Activity Test (PAT): A procedure to check for chemical reactions between materials used to make enclosures and photographs stored in those enclosures. Test ensures enclosures won’t react chemically with photographs.

Preservation: The professional discipline of protecting materials by minimizing chemical and physical deterioration to prevent the loss of information and to extend the material’s life while maintaining the material in a condition as close to the original as possible.

Provenance: The place and time of origin of recorded records/objects.

Repository: An institution focused on the care and storage of items of continuing value, especially paper or digital records.

Restoration: Often confused as preservation, restoration cleans and replaces permanent aspects of an object that is not reversible. Restoration is the practice of repairing an object’s original state, an assumed condition, or an earlier appearance with little regard for historical context. There is no formal training program in order to perform a restoration, and those performing restorations can often lack accreditations.

Reversible: Treatments and techniques that can be undone without affecting the material.

Series: A group of similar records arranged according to a filing system. Collections are divided into series and subseries in order to establish an intellectual arrangement. A records series may consist of a single type or several different types of documents that document a specific event. Groupings of similar records are arranged within a collection.

Stabilization: The process of slowing the degradation of material.

Surface Cleaning: A mechanical cleaning technique used to reduce superficial soil, dust, grime, insect droppings, accretions, or other surface deposits on paper to reduce the potential for damage. This is usually the first step before any other treatment and is also known as dry cleaning.

Survey: A broad, general overview of a collection.