What Would You Do? Mold And Mildew?

So earlier I was at a garage sale and there was a big packet with old envelopes with stamps on them. It was all 50 cents so of course I picked it up. However, they are all from the 1920s but they have mildew on them. I actually got a sore throat from being in the car with them. I was thinking of cutting them up and soaking the stamps off if anything. What would you guys do with them? Of course I won't keep the envelopes.... There were these two envelopes that were good. The ingersoll bros. one is really nice with the RIH initials punched into the stamp. Any way I can save this one atleast??

I plan on wiping each down with white vinegar and leaving them in the sun for hours. As for the other ones probably just cut and soak for the stamps and discard the envelopes.

Wiping with liquid or even damp material would result in wrinkled or wavy paper. Water soluble materials (grime, ink, gum) would mix and re-deposit in the paper. This doesn't sound advisable.

There are materials which will kill mold in an enclosed atmosphere, I believe. You may want to investigate this, and see if it is feasible. Or, maybe some SCF members have done this and can advise you.

Opinion:
Stay clear of the vinegar.
Don't panic.
Dry the articles, if you live in a dry environment, the further deterioration
is generally halted.

Here is a response from 2009, the links possibly now do not work.

Hello:

If it is really mould (mildew), I would first refer you
to the following articles.
http://www.mold-help.org/content/view/163/
http://preserve.harvard.edu/guidelines/mold.html

Note: Mould is a much broader category than
"foxing" which often affects paper, books and stamps.

If you determine that your problem is foxing,
I suggest that you read:
http://www.stamps.org/care/subp6.htm

If the material is damp, I suggest you let it dry out
and vacuum the documents to remove the dried mould.

I am not aware of any inexpensive method to remove
any staining of documents, due to mildew.

If they are very valuable, I suggest that you consult a
porofessional restorer.


Blair.

Great links on mold. The foxing site doesn't work for me.

I've had good luck putting album pages with some mildew on them in the sun for a few hours or a day. It seems to kill the mildew fairly well. The hotter the day, the better. And directly in the sun. I wouldn't use vinegar, though, as wetting paper will make it wrinkle. There may be a spray product or powder you can use for this. By "spray" I mean something like a de-acidification spray which does not wet the paper. I've also had good luck removing many types of stains with white plastic erasers. Red rubber erasers often leave marks, but the white ones remove glue, minor stains, and so forth.