Paper Has Always Been Fragile — Even When It Was New

From the moment paper was invented over 2,000 years ago, it has been vulnerable to moisture, insects, sunlight, and decay.
But the documents we handle today — letters, certificates, records, photographs, manuscripts — face entirely new risks that earlier generations never imagined.

📇 The Early 1900s: Handmade Records & Acidic Paper

Documents from the early 20th century were often created on wood-pulp-based, acidic paper, which was cheap to produce but extremely unstable.

Common issues from this era:
• Yellowing and brittleness
• Edges crumbling or flaking
• Ink feathering or fading
• Water damage spreading into the fibers
• Permanent creases that cannot be flattened

Many of these documents exist as single, irreplaceable originals — meaning once they deteriorate, the information is gone forever.

🏛️ Mid-Century (1940s–1970s): The Age of Carbon Copies & Filing Cabinets

Businesses, schools, and households produced enormous amounts of paperwork — birth certificates, handwritten letters, legal documents, military papers, medical charts.

During this era, paper was not designed for long-term preservation.

Typical problems today:
• Carbon copies smearing or fading
• Moisture damage from garage or basement storage
• Documents sticking together
• Ink transfer between pages
• Rusted staples tearing holes

If your family kept boxes or binders of papers from these decades, they’re almost certainly degrading right now.

🗄️ 1980s–2000s: Thermal Paper, Fax Paper, and Home Printers

This era introduced new materials that age even faster:

Thermal fax paper

• Turns yellow or brown
• Text fades to nothing
• Becomes brittle like tissue

Inkjet home printing

• Ink runs with humidity
• Colors discolor quickly
• Paper curls or warps

Office laser printing

Better longevity — but still sensitive to moisture and heat.

Thousands of family documents (school awards, early computer printouts, tax records, letters) now suffer from fading toner or unstable dye-based inks.

🧾 Scrapbooks & Mixed-Media Pages

Scrapbooks are the most vulnerable document type because they mix:

• Glue
• Tape
• Newspaper clippings
• Photos
• Letters
• Fabric
• Stickers

These materials age at completely different rates, causing:
• Adhesive staining
• Warping
• Ink transfer
• Pages sticking together
• Newspaper turning brittle and crumbling

Digitizing these pages exactly as they are preserves their layout and meaning forever.

🔥 Why Digitizing Documents Is More Urgent Now

Paper from every era — 1900s, 1950s, 1980s — is reaching the end of its natural lifespan.

Once ink fades or paper fibers break down, the information is gone.

Digitizing now protects against:
• Fire
• Flood
• Mold
• Accidental tearing
• Sunlight exposure
• Misplacement or loss during moves
• Aging and chemical decay

Digitization ensures your family’s history, business paperwork, and personal records remain safe, searchable, and permanently preserved.