Make It Last: Fun Facts

Did you know…

• Paper has much lower quality now than 200 years ago. In the early 1800s, paper making switched to wood as the source. Wood contains lignin, which becomes acid over time and destroys the paper. Before, paper was handmade from hemp, linen and cotton and other lignin-free materials. That paper can last for centuries.

• Silverfish and cockroaches like to eat paper.

• Paper did not reach Europe until the 11th century. The Chinese had been making paper since about 100 BC, but the practice took another millennium to spread to the West. That’s why there is so little information about some parts of history, for example, the King Arthur story.

• Don’t trust products from regular stores that say “archival.” Anyone can use that word, and the products are not always safe for your heirlooms and collectibles. This is especially true when the package does not list the material.

• It is possible that in the future little will be known about our current time, because so much information is stored on disks and hard drives. These will be obsolete, but information on paper lasts much longer.