Cards
Store and handle cards: sleeves, toploaders, binders
Cards are paper, so moisture, heat, light, pressure and friction are what damage them. A soft sleeve, then a rigid holder or a side-loading binder, kept in a dark room held between 30 and 50 percent relative humidity, the set point the Library of Congress gives for mixed photograph and paper collections, protects against all five. Most damage happens in handling, during sorting, trading and shipping.
Storage types for single cards and binders. Drafted 8 Nov 2026.
Sleeves come first and holders second
A penny sleeve is a thin, soft plastic sleeve that keeps fingerprints and dust off a card. A perfect-fit or inner sleeve is a tighter sleeve that sits under a second, outer sleeve, which closes the edges against dust. A toploader is a rigid plastic holder that a sleeved card slides into, and it stops bending. A semi-rigid holder is a thinner, flexible version often used when sending cards to grading companies. A magnetic or screw-down case holds a card in a thick acrylic shell for display. Choose sleeves and holders of polypropylene, polyethylene or polyester, the plastics archives treat as stable, and avoid PVC, which can release acid and plasticizer as it ages. Sleeve every card before it goes into a holder.
Binders protect cards when the pages fit
Binder pages hold nine cards or more per side in pockets. Side-loading pockets keep cards from sliding out when the binder tips. Ring binders press on the cards nearest the rings when closed, which can dent them, and binders with fixed, bound pages avoid that problem. Put one card in each pocket, or two back to back, and leave no card loose between pages. Store binders upright like books, since stacking them flat puts weight on the pages underneath. An overfull binder bends cards along the spine, so leave room for the cover to close flat. Apply the same plastics test to pages as to sleeves.
Keep humidity steady and light low
Card stock absorbs moisture from the air. High humidity makes cards curl, warp and grow mould, and fast swings between damp and dry make it worse. The Library of Congress gives a set point between 30 and 50 percent relative humidity for mixed collections, moving no more than 5 percent a day, and the Northeast Document Conservation Center gives 30 to 60 percent for paper; a small hygrometer shows the reading. Silica gel packets in a sealed box help in damp climates. Attics, basements, garages and outside walls see the largest swings in heat and humidity, so they make poor storage. Sunlight and strong indoor light fade ink and yellow plastic, so keep displayed cards out of direct sun or behind UV-filtering glass.
Pressure and friction cause most damage
Rubber bands dent the top and bottom cards in a stack. Loose cards in a box slide and rub, which whitens edges. Shuffling unsleeved cards scratches surfaces and bends corners. Pushing a card into a tight toploader without a sleeve can catch a corner. Writing on a sleeve with the card inside presses the outline of the letters into the card. For shipping, put a sleeved card in a toploader, tape the opening, and sandwich it between two pieces of stiff card in a rigid mailer. Keep food, drinks and pets away from the table where cards are out of their sleeves.
| Cause | Damage | Protection type |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture | Curling, warping, mould | Dry room, silica gel, sealed box |
| Light | Faded ink, yellowed plastic | Dark storage, UV-filtering glass |
| Heat | Warping, softened plastic | Room temperature, away from radiators and windows |
| Pressure | Dents, bends, ring marks | Toploaders, upright binders, no rubber bands |
| Friction | Edge whitening, scratches | Sleeves, one card per pocket |
| Chemicals | Surface damage from PVC | Polypropylene, polyethylene or polyester; no PVC |
| Handling | Fingerprints, corner wear | Clean hands, hold by the edges |
Read next
Sources read for this page
- ReadCanadian Conservation Institute: Products Used in Preventive Conservation (Technical Bulletin 32)read 8 Nov 2026
- ReadNEDCC 5.5: Storage Enclosures for Photographic Materialsread 8 Nov 2026
- ReadUS National Archives: How to Preserve Family Archivesread 8 Nov 2026
- ReadLibrary of Congress: Information Leaflet on the Care, Handling, and Storage of Photographsread 8 Nov 2026
- ReadNEDCC 2.1: Temperature, Relative Humidity, Light, and Air Quality: Basic Guidelines for Preservationread 8 Nov 2026
- ReadCanadian Conservation Institute: Storing Works on Paper (CCI Notes 11/2)read 8 Nov 2026