Cellulose Acetate Lamination: A Literature Review and Survey of Paper-Based Collections in the United States

Abstract Cellulose acetate (CA) lamination, a technique to strengthen documents by sealing them between sheets of thermoplastic film, was widespread from the 1930s to the 1990s. Its use gradually stopped in the 1980s amid concerns about the physical and chemical instability of the laminate and the degradation risks posed to the treated document. Despite concerns about CA lamination, no coordinated effort has taken place to establish the various materials and techniques used in cellulose acetate laminations or to determine the number and present condition of CA laminated documents in US collections. In this paper, we review the chemistry and methods used in CA lamination. We then report results of a survey of 52 US institutions with significant laminated collections. We find that at least 2.9 million laminated documents exist in US collections, and most of those documents are observed to be in stable condition. A majority of the institutions used cellulose diacetate (CDA) as the laminating film and as few as 0.6% CDA laminated documents have been delaminated. The results should aid institutions in determining the cost benefit in the management of these significant collections.