*to the best of our knowledge as promised by the manufacturersWhat's acid-free? That's a common question in Malaysia. I shall do my best to explain here.
Acid causes discoloration, yellowing and damage to photographs. Examples of non-acid-free albums that damaged photographs could be easily found in our home - family albums that are passed down through generations. Most of them are self-adhesive or plastic slip-in type of albums. However, acid-free self-adhesive photo albums are available nowadays if you notice. A shop that sells a wide variety of acid-free albums will be "Simple and Nice", located at Damansara Jaya (www.simpleandnice.com).
So, what's not good for photographs?
Plastics, non-acid-free adhesive/glue/gum/spray mount, direct sunlight, humidity, etc.
We use acid-free adhesive to mount the photographs on acid-free black sheets in our acid-free albums, using acid-free tracing paper as separators between photographs. In addition, our photographs are printed in-house using acid-free archival matt paper and acid-free waterproof pigment ink. Well, as promised by the manufacturers, the photographs should last 75-100 years. Of course, never put your photo album in humid places, under direct sunlight, or in a car that's under hot sun.
As you can tell, we are acid-free fanatics! Or more.. lignin-free, etc, etc... Basically, we hate anything that damages photographs and photography!
