Vanishing History

The historically-minded reader who thumbs through the bound volumes of old newspapers in any big public library will generally find issues of a century or more ago in good condition. As he passes the 18705, when woodpulp began to replace costly rag paper, the pages turn yellow and brittle. Papers of the Spanish American War period will crumble at a touch, for then pulp print was at its worst. Later volumes are in fairly good state of preservation but they, too, will gradually disintegrate with age.

Last week Dr. Solon Justius Buck of University of Pittsburgh, viewing with alarm the fact that "tons of history" are being swept up from the floor of U. S. libraries every day, urged the American Council of Learned Societies, meeting in Minneapolis, to consider the need for preserving newspaper files as invaluable re-search material.

Scientists have sought in vain a practical chemical preservative for newspapers. The New York Times prints 250 copies per day of its regular edition on rag paper for $100 per year for subscribers. The New York Public Library coats with thin Japan tissue every page of every paper in its files published since 1916. The Library of Congress keeps its 80,000 bound volumes in a room at 70DEG temperature and 40% humidity. Suggestion by Dr. Buck: photograph news pages in reduced facsimile on special long-lasting paper.

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