For a little over a year now, I have been borrowing rolls from
collectors around the world for my Violano roll scanning project.
To date, I have handled nearly 700 of them, and by far the most common
source of leader damage is from old rubber bands.

It is not uncommon to find rolls with hardened scraps of rubber bands
stuck solidly to the paper, which is very hard to remove without
tearing the paper.  If nothing else, it leaves a stain on the leader.
In addition, if the roll was not wound tightly before the rubber band
was attached, the paper on the leader is crinkled from the pressure of
the band.

I have also seen rolls that have torn along the rubber band line, in
part due to the fact that the paper on many of the rolls has become
brittle with age.  I know from experience that these comments also
apply to other roll formats.

The bottom line is that I strongly recommend not using rubber bands on
any of our old rolls.  The paper is at or near the end of its life on
many of them and the use of a rubber band only shortens the life of the
roll that much more.

After a lot of thought, the best solution I have found so far for
securing the roll for transport has been to cut a strip of copy paper
(acid-free, of course) and wrap it around the roll with a piece of acid
free tape to hold the band to itself.  In the case of the Violano roll,
the strips are cut from 11x17 paper and are slightly over an inch wide.
This is a little inconvenient for using the rolls, since the tape needs
to be replaced each time, but works well for shipping and long term
storage.

I would really like to find strips of paper with some of the "Post-it"
note adhesive on one end for the job.  If anyone knows of a source for
this (or just the adhesive), I would be very interested in obtaining
some.

Jack Breen
Southborough, Massachusetts


 [ See "Art Fry and the invention of Post-it(r) Notes"
 [ at http://www.3m.com/about3m/pioneers/fry.jhtml 
 [ -- Robbie