Do archivists wear gloves?
Ah, the go-to question, the one most of us archivists receive on the regular–second only to “So you just get to touch a lot of old stuff?” or perhaps the bolder, more honest question: “But what do you actually do?” (We’ll tackle that last one at a later date!)
The answer to the gloves dilemma is that, barring exceptional circumstances, gloves are not typically worn in archives, and are brought out only when handling photographs.
Glove-lovers beware!
Sifting through various paper documents in various stages of wear often makes the risk of wearing gloves too great.
The rationale is fairly easy to arrive at with a simple thought experiment. Imagine you’re sat in front of a large stack of old papers (or old books!)–some thicker than others, some brittle and crumbling, some sticking tight together after years in storage. Now imagine you have a layer of loose, thick, ill-fitting fabric between you and those pages. As you can probably surmise, sorting through those documents becomes difficult–even hazardous when the grip-less gloves constantly threaten to grab and fold and snag against your will. On the contrary, the built-in friction and very light moisture of our bare hands–not to mention their nimble dexterity–makes for a perfectly satisfactory paper-sifting experience.
There are certain things we can do to get our own hands primed for handling paper records. It’s a good idea to wash ahead of time, and certainly to avoid creaming up with greasy lotions just beforehand. And licking fingers for smoother page-turning, while tempting, is an archival no-no!
On the other hand, gloves are used for handling photographs, as even the subtlest of skin oils can easily transfer to the photograph’s surface–especially when it comes to prints that contain a higher concentration of metal. Most archives will have baskets of clean white gloves at your disposal, but if not, be sure to ask. We don’t bite!
Keep gloves close!
Always have a glove on hand (pun intended) in case you run into some delicate photographs during your research!
