Bookmarks: Storage, Display, Exhibit

by

Lauren Roberts

Every collector faces the same question regardless of the item: Where do you put them? Fortunately, bookmarks are much smaller what many other collectors accumulate (unless you have 80,000), but they are likely to be an issue once your collection hits the three-figure range. I tend to be a minimalist so other than books, there is relatively little furniture and no knickknacks in my home. Still, with my bookmark collection now numbering more than 1,100 I am again seeking the “perfect” solution.

Alas, while there are a lot of ideas, there appears to be no perfect one. What I did find while talking to other collectors is a multitude of solutions, some of which are better suited to certain shapes or types of bookmarks, others of which are brilliant and all of which are practical.

To understand the dilemma of storing and displaying bookmarks one needs to understand the problems. First, bookmarks come in a variety of materials. There are metals—gold, silver, aluminum, stainless steel—but also ones made of pre-banned (old) ivory, and ribbon and beads. Most but not all of these are three dimensional. Other materials include paper, cardboard, silk, celluloid, plastic, leather, yarns, and each type has an impact on the storage and display conditions. Second, bookmarks come in different shapes. Some things used as bookmarks were probably originally issued as trade cards, though, especially for advertising ones, the idea may have been to have them used as bookmarks. Third, the question of protection is an issue. If you collect primarily older ones as I do you want to use archival materials for their protection. Fourth, where and how you want to keep them is a factor. Do you want them all out on display for anyone to enjoy? Do you want to have them take up less space in storage where you only take them out to enjoy them? Fifth, how do you use them (as bookmarks) if at all?

It’s obvious that no one solution is going to work for all. Every collector needs to determine for herself or himself what works in light of these questions and their personal living arrangements. Knowing we are all different, I asked a number of collectors what they did. The answers were diverse and enlightening.  

         

1. Using a single sheet per plastic page. This ensures that you will be able to see both sides of the bookmark at all times. It will also be the most space-greedy of solutions since only one transparency will go in each plastic page.
2. Using two sheets per plastic page. This is the least likely to work as it will have two clear sheets back-to-back “fighting” each other in each plastic page.
3. If you like the idea of two sheets per page, try putting a piece of cardstock in between them. You would have to pull out a transparency to see the backsides of the bookmarks, but that would be easy. It would also preserve the bookmarks delicacy and the cardstock would not only provide the necessary “visual fence” but also add weight to the page so it no longer flopped over with the weight of the bookmarks.

Thicker transparency film can be found. 3M, Grafix and other manufacturers make it in different grades and thicknesses. A place called Film Source carries 10mm transparencies (though I am uncertain how thick that is). 3M has what it calls “Thick Film” (item #PP2950). Office supply stores carry these as do scrapbook stores, but your selection may be limited.

I am also interested in investigating whether anyone makes archival-quality transparencies since the pages, photo corners and binders I use are all archival. I get the pages (item #A1PH) and the lovely box-shaped and black cloth exterior binders (item #x507-3110) at Bags Unlimited, and the photo corners at Michael’s, though, oddly, they didn’t show up during a search of their web site. However, a place called Archival USA has them.

         

Valerie has also had a public exhibition of her bookmark collection in an art gallery. As you can see, she mounted a selection of them (even showing differences between originals and clones of two) in simple, frames. Attaching them to the board would not be hard (clear archival photo corners would work), but the backs any two-sided ones could obviously not be enjoyed. Nevertheless, mounting them like this would work not just for exhibitions but for one’s own home.

Glass boxes are the obvious choice for my three-dimensional bookmarks. These are not as easy to find as I would have thought because most boxes have unnecessary height. One inch would be perfect, but the only things that come close are cases that jewelry sellers use for rings. Alas, they tend to look cheap with covered cardboard and a snap closure. eBay is loaded with these, but I feel that the elegant bookmarks deserve like these simple and elegant “Jewelry/Trinket Boxes” from Engraving Creations. (The price for the large rectangular one is only $20, and since I don’t want engraving to detract from the bookmarks inside I am leaning very much toward it. Its only “flaw” is its height; at three inches, that’s a lot of wasted space for bookmarks that come to, at most and then  rarely, half an inch in height lying down.) If anyone is looking to design one for a reasonable price, make them just like these only give them more length and less height. Then call me. I’ll take half a dozen to start.
 
For those who want to keep their bookmarks “free” of binders or other storage but still want to protect them, there are individual plastic sleeves of various sizes. Bags Unlimited has a number of sleeves in different sizes, but a good standard one is their “Bookmark Sleeve.” They also have a number of different sized ones that would work well for the odd-shaped bookmark.

In researching this column, I found what I think may be the best of the “sleeve” companies—Atlantic Protective Pouches. They make customized sheet protectors, page protectors and mylar sleeves for darn near any type and size of ephemera so if you are willing to take the time and trouble to measure your bookmarks and separate your results into general size categories you can probably get nearly perfect pages and sleeves. They offer a wide variety of optional features, sizes from tiny (1” x 1”) to jumbo (50” wide with unlimited lengths), and a range of thicknesses. Their prices are reasonable too, especially if you concentrate on the older, more expensive bookmarks.

I have a ways to go, though, before my shelves will be as crowded as those of Maria Rosa whose Spanish-language blog, Punto de Papel, highlights her ongoing collection. through her English-speaking daughter, she told me about her solutions for her current 7,600 bookmark collection. At that number, she is reaching the very serious level of collecting, though her focus on paper ones makes her storage/display dilemma a bit easier than it might seem. She first places them in categories before putting them in albums (seen here on the shelves) with plastic pages. Ones considered special go on the display board in the room above the desk she uses when she works with her collection.

 

Sophie has around 3,000 bookmarks in her collection. Though she has examples of all types, she is leaning toward specializing in one or two in the future. “At first,” she said, “I kept them in enveloped according to category, then failed to keep up with this so am creating a database . . .  so that I can see how many I have of various types. In the database, I sort by material, then by ‘type (mainly according to subject/purpose). I also collect other information about each bookmark, including acquisition (when, where), size, condition, series, producer etc. Does it surprise you that for  my day job I'm a cataloguing librarian?

“I must confess that they are currently stored in about six or seven cardboard boxes. I feel really bad about this, but have procrastinated about a better system until I get up to date with recording the details about them (have currently about 2500 on there). I would love then to put them into archival folders with plastic dividers, but that will take some time because of the cost. It will have to be done a few at a time. My current favourite ones (often new additions to the collection) take turns in being displayed on my magnetic board attached to my computer desk, but this only really works for  thin card ones (and nothing too fragile, of course)”

Anne stores bookmarks in clear plastic pockets that hold three or four each. “I used to put them in a photo album,” she noted,  “but you can't see the back, if there is something on it. I have about 1200 to date, and try to put them into categories. I don't collect anything specific; I just love bookmarks.”

She is having an exhibition in mid-November, but is having trouble choosing which ones to use. “I am hoping to interest others in collecting, even if it is only children to begin with. I have managed to get quite a lot of bookmarks from firms to give away. I work in our local high school and for the community fair (where I am putting on the exhibition). The students made banners, and I have some bookmarks of the banners. Ah, the wonders of digital photography!”

Mo Lee is relatively new to collecting, but very enthusiastic. Her collection numbers around 2,000. She does not want to specialize because she loves all types. Her solution storage? “I just keep my bookmarks in one big plastic box.”

         

Joe Stephenson who edits the England-based Bookmark Collector newsletter (subscription only), noted that the question of storage is the second more common question he and the newsletter get. (The first? “Is there a special term for someone who collects bookmarks?” which, he notes, is  “almost always asked on behalf of a friend, but is, I suspect, destined for their next pub quiz night”.)

“I have special albums for my special bookmarks,” he wrote me in response to my questions. “The silks and old  advertising, some of which are in slip-cases to keep out the dust, are otherwise n cheaper four-ring ring binders, but almost all are in the special ‘bookmark’ collectors pages we can buy here [England]. I keep them—all 200+ of them—on a set of purpose-built shelves in the attic bedroom, which is the only well-organised bit of my collection. The rest functions, rather like chicken farming, on the deep litter principle, ankle deep in bookmarks pending. Well, lots of boxes and a couple of tables full of bookmarks pending! I tell myself I'll get there someday. My wife gives me one of her patient knowing looks when I say this.

“In the background of the first one you can see a stack of the pages, and  I’ve shown two albums to show how I display my bookmarks, using black or red interleaving. The other gives a good idea of my ‘bookmark wall’.”

         

Finally, Alan Irwin of the popular blog, Bookmark Collector, has been through a number of attempts at finding the perfect storage solution as well. A couple of months after he started the blog, he tried his hand at finding “a system that is flexible and yet one I can organize.” He tried binder pages designed for photo negatives; he tried sleeves made for banknotes and heavyweight sleeves. They all worked, but none was entirely satisfactory.

As it turned out, he did end up using the binder pages, but put them in a binder for sturdy protection. “One by one, each bookmark was slipped into a sleeve,” he wrote about his initial sorting. “For this initial sort, I’d put one facing each direction, so I could put a total of 8 in a page. I’d put duplicates in the same envelope, unless there were a lot of them, in which case I’d wrap up the duplicates in a zip-lock bag. One bag for each bookmark.

“I would run into bookmarks that were too wide, too long, or both. For this first sort, I would slide them into the pocket of the binder cover. Duplicates of these oversized bookmarks went into larger zip-locks.”

Two weeks later, he began the second part of his sorting. “All of the larger, three dimensional bookmarks were collected into separate drawers, and all of the paper and thin material bookmarks into one of the protective envelopes that I’d acquired.

“I also spent a lot of time arranging the paper bookmarks stored in the binder. I gathered them into some commonly themed pages: library promotions, reading, science fiction, book promotion, etc. That helped me find duplicates and select bookmarks that were in the best condition.

Although I’ve been organizing, I can’t really say the collection has much organization. I think that’s the next big effort.”

Alan and I were startled and thrilled, pretty soon after he posted this, to discover each other’s online sites and even more so to find out we live in the same town. On Thursday, we are meeting for the first time over over lunch at a wonderful Indian restaurant. Not surprisingly, we are each bringing a couple of our binders to share.

For those who are still uncertain how they want to store and display their collections, I’d like to suggest spending time on these sites that specialize in archival solutions. There is an amazing number of choices, and these companies have excellent reputations. It’s very easy to get caught up in choosing and to go wild with ideas. My best suggestion is to calmly and deliberately calculate your needs based on your acquisition aggressiveness, your preference (if any) of bookmark materials, your collection’s importance to you (is it more of a hobby or a passion?), and your living arrangements (meaning not only the space you can devote to it, but the patience of your partner and/or the interest of your pets). Plus the cost. Regardless of the choices you make, the most important thing is to enjoy your bookmarks. They should, after all, be used to make many pleasant chapters in your book of life.

More links to archival storage materials companies:
Archival Methods
Document Preservation Center
Gaylord
Light Impressions
Metal Edge


Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, 1,000 bookmarks and approximately 1,200 books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) and Book Publicists of Southern California as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. You can reach her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it