The process of making paper that began in the 1880s was a tremendous stride for the world because it was economical and it made the printed word accessible to ordinary people. The paper-pulping method to make paper created pulp full of acids. The acid, even though it was a simple, natural by-product of the papers’ ingredients, caused the destruction of books and papers over time. Paper made using acid pulping techniques yellowed and lost strength until it literally disintegrated. The degree to which they disintegrated varied with time and exposure but ultimately, they would all fall apart.

That process of disintegration—the oxidation of acid paper—was referred to as "the slow fires." It has been the subject of extensive research as well as many books, articles, and a PBS Special entitled "The Slow Fires" (see "the slow fires" at www.clir.org/pubs/reports/conway2/)

Putting out the Slow Fires
By the 1980s, many paper manufacturers had commercialized non-acidic paper production. These advancements in paper production, however, did nothing to solve the problem for the 200-year-old backlog of information, art, and history printed on acid papers. Important older paper was doomed to disintegrate with time and exposure. Conservationists, book preservers, and archivists continued the search for safe, economical means to rescue the books and papers. The progress that has been made is generally too expensive for anyone to use widely except the very well-funded Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Enter PaperSaver
Notoriously under-funded, libraries and archival institutions continued to search for safe, affordable methods to rescue acid books and papers crumbling at an alarming rate. One of the people searching for a solution was Joseph Zicherman in Berkeley, California. Joe had received graduate degrees in wood and paper science and had been interested in the problem of paper deacidification since the 1980s. In 1999, Joe attended "Mass Deacidification Reconsidered," the important meeting of hundreds of librarians and paper experts from all over the world held at the National Archives in Washington, DC. The contents of this historic Mass Deacidification meeting convinced Joe to research ways to economically and efficiently treat the massive volumes of books and papers in libraries and archives.

How we came to be in the paper-saving business
Joe formed a group to develop his research project. That project led to the formation of Provenance LLC and development of PaperSaver. They competed for and received two grants from the Federal USDA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program to develop technologies to treat large quantities of at-risk books and papers archived in institutions. The challenge continues but Joe and his colleagues have made exciting and significant progress and have successfully patented new, sonic bed technology.

Testing and personal use
Joe and his colleagues developed a scientific formula that, unlike other formulas in use, contained no fluorocarbons and was a lot less expensive. To establish the effectiveness of their formula they repeatedly sprayed single sheets of paper and tested them. This testing technology proved to be a cost-effective way to deacidify paper, sheet by sheet.

As Joe worked on the new technology for libraries and archives, Joe’s wife, Ginny Roemer, suggested the possibility of treating hundreds of the family documents she had meticulously collected and stored. To do this efficiently, Ginny needed a simple way to determine which of her treasures were "acid papers." Joe had been relying on the simple method used regularly by conservators: a pH-testing pen. Ginny insisted that for her, Joe find the best quality and easiest-to-use pH testing solution available.

Ginny was then able to identify and spray the "at-risk" documents from the family archives: diplomas, birth, marriage, and death certificates; old letters, greeting cards, treasured childhood drawings, and even black-and-white photographs. She worked easily near an open window and entirely in her kitchen. Each document dried immediately, maintained its original appearance and appeal, and most importantly, was restored safely and needed no further treatment or special care.

ENTER: Scrapbookers
While Joe continued to work on the conservation side, Ginny, an attorney in San Francisco, talked to her family, colleagues and friends in their community. They all encouraged her to share Joe’s system of page-by-page paper preservation with others.

Also, a conservator put Joe and Ginny in touch with a talented business maven, Deb Carlen. Deb had a rich printing history in her family, an incredible collection of old, beautiful and exotic papers, and was simply paper-obsessed. Deb pointed out that the love and care of paper treasures that Ginny and Deb shared was also shared by literally a world of "scrapbookers."

Scrapbookers are the "new historians" emerging as a major force in hobby and craft circles and they too, had millions of important letters, maps, records, journals, certificates, and family histories in their keeping. Also, the scrapbookers were creating their own art objects using decorative papers, many imported from countries still not manufacturing acid free papers. Scrappers had become new players in caretaking the American "Social Archives."

In early autumn, 2005, Joe Zicherman and Ginny Roemer decided to commercialize their easy-to-use system: PaperSaver. They believed that it could help maintain collections in homes as well as businesses, institutions and libraries around the world. Further, by creating a viable enterprise based on PaperSaver, they could continue to fund their efforts to create the affordable mass deacidification still needed by libraries and archives around the world.

PaperSaver: Now Available
PaperSaver will be available to the public after its introduction to the trade at the Craft and Hobby Association show in January 2006, and available by order on the website.