Preserve, dispose of, or file 13?

[Naphtali]

My roommate and I were in the parking lot of Jack's Pizza (San Jose, California), getting ready to watch the first game of the series when the lot began to fold and buckle. The series was delayed a while in 1989. The next day I picked up the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News to find out how severe was the earthquake. I still have the Chronicle and Section A of the News.

Is either of these documents worth saving? I remember that the Chronicle was farmed out to some Macintoshes in surrounding areas, that the print run was 25,000. But I'm unsure of the accuracy of my memory. If there is something worth saving, how do I do this? Would it be better to dispose of them to someone who collects documents? Or to a museum of some sort? Or should I wrap fish in them?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Something like this would definitely be worth holding onto -- it'd have value to collectors of historical memorabilia, sports memorabilia, and even earthquake buffs (yes, there are such.)

You could go the whole nine yards and store it in an acid-proof bag like comic-book buffs use, but I tend to store my newspapers in a dark, cool closet, in tight stacks -- as long as you minimize its exposure to light and oxygen, you'll be fine.

 

[dhermann1]

I agree. Although the real criterion should be, does it mean something special to you personally? But my credo is never throw anything away.

 

[Paisley]

If you have to ask, I assume these newspapers don't have much sentimental value for you.

Personally, I can't stand clutter, I don't have much closet space and I won't pay for storage. If it were mine, I'd pass it on to a collector.

I have a binder that I keep interesting articles in, but it's for informational not keepsake purposes.

 

[Naphtali]

The newspapers have no "meaning" for me. They are interesting by way of chronicling a historic event. I saved them because I was uncertain who would save what after such a localized disaster - that is, how many copies of the Chronicle and the News were delivered out of area? Especially in the case of the Chronicle, I suspect not many. Without doing anything special to preserve them, I have kept them out of any light without putting things atop them to render the creases, folds, and wear more pronounced. They are newsprint, by definition, short lived. Putting them in acid-free containment doesn't address the acid in the paper.

By nature, I am not a collector, the exception being a modest number of Reader's Copies of books. And I collect them only as I find them; I don't make any special effort. These are amusing when compared with published versions of the title.

Regarding passing them to a collector of this sort of minutiae, I think such collectors are banned from Seeley Lake, Montana. . . . Suggestions?

 

[Dated Guy]

Have a drink, file them away again, rediscover them some years later, reread and memories come flooding back to you, it's part of your life, with little exceptional things like this happening all the time. It doesn't cost anything, and if left alone, someone else may benefit in the fullness of time, by finding it all out......