• FAQ's – Enclosures & Sleeves

    Q: Are your sleeves safe for color photos, old black & white photographs, and modern inkjet prints? Yes — Archival Methods sleeves and enclosures are made from PAT-passed materials, which means they’re safe for every type of photographic print: modern, vintage, color, B&W, resin-coated, fiber-based, inkjet, dye-sub, you name it.
    Polyester, polypropylene, and polyethylene are all stable plastics that won’t react with emulsions. So regardless of the age of your photos, they’re protected from acidity, off-gassing, and environmental contaminants.
    Q: What is the difference between polyester, polyethylene, and polypropylene enclosures? All of the ones we sell are archival and safe for long-term storage.
    • Polyester (Melinex 516 or Mylar) Sleeves — clearest and most inert, stiff, and museum-grade. Best for display, long-term storage, and items that need extra rigidity or support.
    • Polypropylene Sleeves and Pages — a little softer and more flexible, good clarity, less expensive than polyester, great for binders, albums, and handling large quantities of images.
    • Polyethylene Bags — durable, softer, and a bit less clear. Great for books, objects, and photos.
      • If you want maximum clarity and longevity, choose polyester. If you need bulk organization in binders or boxes, polypropylene is usually the better fit.
    Q: Should I use plastic sleeves, binder pages, or paper folders and envelopes to store photos and documents? It depends on how you plan to access them:
    • Use individual polyester sleeves inside archival boxes for documents you’ll handle or display frequently.
    • Use polypropylene Print Pages or polyester Page Protectors if you’re storing them in an archival binder and want to look at them more often.
    • Use folders or envelopes made from acid-free paper if you want breathable enclosures for fragile or brittle documents.
    Archival Methods gives you all three options, and it’s common to mix them — documents can live in a buffered folder, inside a box, with any items you reference often kept in polyester sleeves.
    Q: When should I use Polyethylene Bags? Use archival Polyethylene Bags when you want:
    • Lightweight, economical, safe protection
    • A flexible enclosure for irregular or thicker items
    • Dust & handling protection
    • Grouping of small items or photos within boxes
    • Safe bagging for textiles, booklets, maps, or documents
    • Temporary or “in-process” organization

Bags

Envelopes

SLEEVES

Folders

4 x 6 Clear Boxes