Connecting to Collections Care

Hello,

I am seeking some advice for a collection of 250 banners from roughly 1985-2015 used for demonstrations, rallies, and events.

Most of the banners are roughly 20 feet wide and about 4-5 feet high. One of the banners has this small, stamped text, "polyester 100% silky habutae made in Japan." It seems most of the banners are made of this material. There is one canvas banner, and 3 banners made of vinyl material from circa 2015. Some of the text was painted on the polyester banners while the majority of the text was applied either with some sort of ink or silkscreened onto the polyester. Most are edged with duct tape – a problem I am aware of. We do not have funding for conservation and plan to stabilize the collection as is with the hopes of photographing the banners in the future.

My questions are:

• I am noticing a very strong vinegar smell from the boxed banners. Does this mean they are slowly degrading? Do I need to keep them separate from our other collections?
• I understand that the best way to store textiles is to roll them. How many can be rolled around one tube?
• Overall, they take up a lot of space. I am considering keeping a selection and deaccessioning the rest. I am curious if anyone else has experience with or would like to share their opinions on these items.

Many thanks,

Meghan Bailey

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Meghan Bailey
Associate University Archivist for Collection Management
University of Massachusetts Boston, Healey Library
Boston
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Hi Meghan, 

Thank you for reaching out to C2C Care! I've contacted a couple of our experts who have more experience with textiles, and also to someone who may have more plastics experience. One expert noted that the vinegar smell was odd and unexpected, 100% polyester and the canvas are very stable materials and shouldn't be off-gassing acetic acid. It may be from the vinyl breaking down or from the printing ink. 

Her recommendation is as follows:

Yes, rolling these would be most likely a good way to store them. Best practice is only one per tube. If they can't do that, then they need to be rolled sequentially, with washed muslin, washed soft Tyvek, or acid-free paper as barriers between one banner and the next. They should not be rolled as a pile. She didn't mention if any have any hardware for hanging/use. If they do, this end will be bulkier than the rest. To roll them evenly (even if just one on a tube), she can pad out the part below the hardware with polyester batting, separated from the banner by any of the materials just mentioned.

She mentioned also that deaccessioning is outside her experience, but would hesitate to deaccession any unless they were truly duplicates.

Personally, are the banners from protests and demonstrations in the United States? If so, I can put you in touch with the American Folklife Center here at the Library of Congress to see if they could give you more information. We have several banners across different divisions in our collections, so depending on where the banners are from I could direct you to the right librarian. 

All the best,

Liz

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Elizabeth Peirce
C2C Care Community Monitor 7/21-8/3
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Washington DC
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Original Message:
Sent: 3/17/2026 8:18:00 AM
From: Elizabeth Peirce
Subject: RE: Polyester banners used for demonstrations and rallys

Hi Meghan, 

Thank you for reaching out to C2C Care! I've contacted a couple of our experts who have more experience with textiles, and also to someone who may have more plastics experience. One expert noted that the vinegar smell was odd and unexpected, 100% polyester and the canvas are very stable materials and shouldn't be off-gassing acetic acid. It may be from the vinyl breaking down or from the printing ink. 

Her recommendation is as follows:

Yes, rolling these would be most likely a good way to store them. Best practice is only one per tube. If they can't do that, then they need to be rolled sequentially, with washed muslin, washed soft Tyvek, or acid-free paper as barriers between one banner and the next. They should not be rolled as a pile. She didn't mention if any have any hardware for hanging/use. If they do, this end will be bulkier than the rest. To roll them evenly (even if just one on a tube), she can pad out the part below the hardware with polyester batting, separated from the banner by any of the materials just mentioned.

She mentioned also that deaccessioning is outside her experience, but would hesitate to deaccession any unless they were truly duplicates.

Personally, are the banners from protests and demonstrations in the United States? If so, I can put you in touch with the American Folklife Center here at the Library of Congress to see if they could give you more information. We have several banners across different divisions in our collections, so depending on where the banners are from I could direct you to the right librarian. 

All the best,

Liz

------------------------------
Elizabeth Peirce
C2C Care Community Monitor 7/21-8/3
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Washington DC
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Hi Meghan, 

There are a couple of different librarians here that it might fall under - if you fill out the Ask a Librarian form it'll direct you to the best person! I'll let you know if we hear anything else from our experts.

All the best,

Liz

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[Liz] Peirce
C2C Care Community Monitor 3/16-3/29/26
Conservator (Objects)
Library of Congress
Washington DC
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