First, you need to decide if you intend to frame it for display or just store it safely. The methods to preserve a poster are different for each of these.

Preserve a Poster by Storing It

If you just want to safely store your vintage posters, it's good to keep them flat, in acid-free sleeves. Acid-free sleeves preserve your posters from dust, moisture and critters. Storing them rolled up is another option – particularly if you lack the space to store the posters flat. Acid-free tubes should be used to preserve the posters rolled-up.

It is not good to store posters stacked deep unless they are sealed together with plastic like shrink-wrap. Remember posters left open will accumulate dust and moisture, which will damage your posters.

Preserve a Poster by Framing It

If you want to preserve posters in frames remember this rule: light is one of paper's worst enemies. So to preserve your poster in frames, use UV-resistant glass or Plexiglas and you will eliminate 98% of the damage florescent lights and sunlight would cause.

Always use acid-free matting and backing when preserving a poster in a frame. Regular matting and backing with acid will actually eat away at your poster.

To preserve a poster in a frame without matting, use a molding to allow room for a “spacer” to keep the glass or Plexiglas off the poster. If a framed poster touches glass or Plexiglas, humidity can become trapped causing the poster to eventually adhere to the glass.

Preserve a Rare Vintage Poster

Very rare posters are sometimes linen-backed to preserve them. This is also done sometimes to repair or restore a valuable poster.

To preserve a poster with linen backing, a professional should be consulted, and it can be rather expensive. However, if a poster has good linen backing it could increase the value significantly even if it was in poor condition before being backed.

Take a Look at More Vintage Posters Worth Preserving

Vintage art, music and political posters are fun to collect but the fun is quickly gone if you fail to preserve a poster by not taking care of it properly. It isn't difficult and it isn't expensive to preserve a poster properly. Enjoy collecting and look over our collection of vintage posters again by clicking here.