Oversized architectural drawings

I am encountering a large volume of architectural drawings from the
Smithsonian's recent building programs and am having problems with
proper handling and housing.

Here are the rough categories of materials:

    1.  The drawings are 30 x 40 inches, or 36 x 48 inches in groups
        of up to 50 sheets (1/2 to 1 inch thick) stapled along the
        short end.  The staples are not to be removed.

    2.  The drawings are 30 x 40 inches or smaller, and in stapled
        groups of about 15 or fewer sheets and rolled without a
        core.  They are frequently larger than a 6 inch diameter (so
        would be substantially larger with a core).

The originating office will send these items to be digitized before
sending them to the Smithsonian Archives for accessioning.  The
Archives staff would like the drawings to be already housed prior to
this disposition, so that they come to the archives in some sort of
reasonable container.

Final storage in a map case, and in a nice folder is optimal, but
this doesn't deal with the transportation issue between the
originating office and the digitizing firm and back to the Archives.
It also won't be possible for the already rolled items.

For the oversize flat items I'm envisioning is a sling of some sort
that will also function as a storage folder (a storage folder with
handles?) For the rolled items I'm thinking of a really big box
(because the items can't be unrolled permanently for a variety of
reasons).

What are other people doing with these types of things?  Please
don't tell me to look at the usual websites and literature (as
helpful as they are). I've done that and none of them deal with
these so-called "volumes" of stapled architectural drawings.  I also
think that a three foot by four foot by two inch box is untenable
(and won't fit on any of my shelves right now), even though I
haven't found one of these readily available.  I've not found a
large good-quality box for the rolled items that can be purchased.

Sarah Stauderman
Preservation Manager
Smithsonian Archives


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:51
                  Distributed: Tuesday, April 26, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-51-038
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