Caring for vintage magazines

[dreams]

I was wondering how everyone is storing their vintage magazines? Also, do you have reservations about taking them apart?

I'm asking this because I have several stored and encased in plastic sheaths trying to decide what I want to do with them. The covers are so dry that it is hard to leaf through the magazine to even enjoy reading the articles and researching. Also I would like to frame some of the advertisements and covers but feel guilty taking the magazine apart.

Well yesterday I picked up one to move it and it buckled a bit in my hand. I looked down to see that it tore the cover of my 1917 Vogue So at this point I'm regretting not taking it apart and framing the cover like I wanted.

I also read that Anna Sui gets her Vogues bound, so I've been thinking about that option as well.

 

[xPedro]

dreams, I started to collect mags this year but I buy Vogue Brazil since 2002, and my mom used to buy them before I was born, and I left all the mags, this old mags that I didn't care about in a wood trunk, and this year I started to look after them to put them with my other mags, and they're were perfect, the cover, the inside content, everything was OK, and there are some mags from 1990, and now I put all my mags inside this wood trunk, I don't know if it's the wood, but my mags are in perfect ''health''

 

[Atelier]

You're already doing a great job by storing them in plastic bags. Ideally each mag should get its own bag, a cardboard backing so it doesn't bend and be kept away from light in dark, not too humid place in a box of appropriate size. I used to collect comic books and let me tell you the supplies to do all this stuff run from pretty cheap to ludicrously expensive. Also there's the anal stuff like washing your hands before handling the older mags in particular. Check out this website for a sampling of what's out there:

http://www.bagsunlimited.com/cart/browse.asp?subcat=5

If you have a good comic book shop near you pay them a visit and take a look at your options and see if they can give you the best bang for your buck or take your business online.

As far as repairing your 1917 Vogue, Google "comic book restoration" (e.g., this place) and normally these places can handle mags or recommend something if you're interested in fixing it.

 

[dreams]

You're already doing a great job by storing them in plastic bags. Ideally each mag should get its own bag, a cardboard backing so it doesn't bend

That is a great idea, I would have been able to avoid this problem. I'm going to take it to a shop to see if they can fix the cover, and then probably frame it.

How does everyone feel about taking apart magazines that are 30+ years old? I feel like I'm destroying a bit of history, but I'm also not being able to enjoy it. I'm thinking about taking apart the ones I want to frame things out of, and putting the rest of the pages in individual sheaths and keeping them all together in a notebook.

 

[iluvjeisa]

I am awful at keeping my many vintage fashion magazines nice. I think I'm going to visit the site Atelier mentioned

 

[indie]

^ me too

 

[LucyInTheSky]

You're already doing a great job by storing them in plastic bags. Ideally each mag should get its own bag, a cardboard backing so it doesn't bend and be kept away from light in dark, not too humid place in a box of appropriate size.

This is exactly what I do with mine.