Indoor air quality is important for ancient artifacts
My family owns a corporation that most people have never even considered.
They browse museums and mosques and observe the historical artifacts presented to them on a silver platter. Without the task every one of us do, you would be staring at withered, crinkled and dust-ridden pages of some of the most sacred texts in history. We are artifact preservers, and it has become a passion of mine. I even teach a course on this to museum staff. The first thing to know about preserving books is that you need a temperature-controlled environment. The cooling system cannot blow freezing air from a vent directly onto the text books. Cool air can cause the pages to become fragile and stiff. Additionally, the furnace cannot blow direct heat to the books, then hot air can cause the pages to become wilted and soft too hastily. The temperature should be at a steady seventy-six degrees. This temperature should remain the same for as long as the books are in that space. It is highly encouraged that the cooling system feeding your temperature-controlled room has a built-in air purification system that will cool the room and clean your air simultaneously, then particles in polluted air stand on top of the books and seep into the pages, discoloring them over time. A sterile environment with clean air is required for lifelong books. I’d suggest asking your heating and A/C tech if they have had experience installing an air purification system into the method because you want to get this right the first time. Historical books can discolor very hastily if the air is not purified instantly. While it can be a tedious process, preserving books is fulfilling in the most unexpected ways. It gives us the option to preserve our history, our ancestors, and life as we know it.