Mazer Archives September 2022 Newsletter | Out of the Archives: Our Poster Collection

The back shelves of our main archive room are filled end to end with posters. We’ve also got posters hanging on the walls all around the archive. They greet you upon entering, remind you of your right to equal rights as you turn on light switches, and advertise long past pride rallies as you open the door into the storage closets.

The posters cover a wide variety of topics: some are simply art, others are related to sports, or politics, or music. Many of these posters saw a life before finding their way into our archives. Some are even homemade. They were signs held at protests, flyers stapled to light posts, or inspirational art hung on walls of homes.

Because most of these came to us with some sort of damage, be it holes from push pins, scotch tape on ripped corners, or yellowing from age, preserving them with the right materials is essential. They are first placed against firm, acid free board. Paper tends to be naturally acidic, and as time passes, this acidity contributes to paper becoming brittle and yellowed. Once placed on the boards, the posters are wrapped in plastic to protect them from the elements. The Mazer uses UV free light bulbs. This is important for all the paper in our collection, but because the posters are not stored in boxes, correct lighting is all the more essential.

Our poster collection is entirely encased in the proper plastic with the acid-free board backing thanks to the work of Jinx Beers, who continuously donated money and time to preserve the collection bit by bit.

We recently held a weekend preservation workshop for the Mazer board at the archives. With the assistance of conservator Abby Duckor, we, among other projects, installed string barriers between the shelves about every twenty posters or so. The string offers support and takes pressure off the leaning posters. This simple trick helps keep the boards straight and stiff and prevent bending and wrinkling, ensuring our collection lasts a long time.

Because our poster collection holds a little bit of something for everyone, it’s easy for everyone to feel a connection to a specific place and time in their lives.