On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 13:20:00 -0500, "Eric Tonks"
etonks@sunstormADD-DOT-COM wrote:

I don't think "printed material" fits photographs.

Indeed not. Photographs are much more fragile.

I also don't thing that
the offgassing from the cedar would hurt any paper

It will hurt an awful lot of paper, Particularly coated papers, such
as the outer jackets of paperbacks.

You may want to seal any photographs into ZipLock bags to keep the photo
chemical residues from harming any other materials you place in the chest.

That's a terrible idea. Ziploc (and other) bags are full of
plasticisiers, which are doom and disaster for some printed materials
and definitely for photographs.

Photographs are best stored with paper as an interleaf. Inside a
close-fitting cardboard box is the best way though - unless you're
handling an album, or you're looking for exceptional storage, then an
interleaf is excessive (but not harmful).

BTW - Be careful with "acid free" papers and photographs. Most "acid
free" archival paper isn;t just free of acid, it's also buffered with
a base to stop it becoming acid in the future. This is a good thing
for most materials, but for colour photographs an excess of a base is
nearly as bad as an excess of acid. Use an _unbuffered_ acid free
paper.

Should you want more, one of the most accessible simple guides to
archival storage is at:
http://amol.org.au/recollections/