Handbuch des Sports--archival questions

Hello, I have an archival/preservation question that I thought someone here could maybe help with. I just received an Ebay auction of one of these pre-WWII German Handbuch des Sports books—the one with all the Sanella cards, including the Babe Ruth. It’s a complete book with all of the cards pasted to the pages. I tried to gently remove one of the cards of lesser note with some little tweezers and a lot of patience. Of course the page tore slightly behind the card and even one corner of the card itself was a bit the worse for wear after. . . . So my question: preservation-wise, is it recommend to just leave all the cards in the book, attached as they are (maybe find some nice acid-free paper to slip between each page) and put the whole book in a plastic baggie,

Or is it worth risking damage to both the book and cards to remove the cards in order to store them in more secure sleeve protectors?

Basically, if it was your book, what would you do?

Thanks for any advice or tips!

This leads into a thread I was thinking of starting. I have an appt. right now, but I'll be back with my experience in soaking the cards off the page in a couple of hours. Scary to try, but it often works on old glue. Maybe purists have a problem with it, not me. I have removed many a card from an album.

About 10 years ago I bought a lot of M101-2 s. Almost a complete set. Got them cheap. Only trouble was they were pasted in an album. The album had been cut apart. I had about 40 pages with a supplement pasted on on both sides. Another 15 or so were singles that were glued to heavy cardboard with mens habidashery ads on the back. I tried at first to remove one and it was a disaster.

About 6 months ago I decided to try again and soak them off. Simply filled the kitchen sink with water and dumped in the least valuable. I think George Mullin was on one side. I discovered that by being patient and careful the glue would dissolve. I worked my way up and developed a technique. Had to be patient. It would take 15-20 minutes to get them off the page.

I got better and better at it and worked my way up. My greatest achievement was separating a Christy Mathewson from an Addie Joss. Biggest disappointment- The Ty Cobb/Honus Wagner. I finally got if off the page and in trying to pick it up it was so waterlogged that it tore about an inch and a half at the bottom. Still pretty nice with a piece of tape on the back.

Absolutely true and I can send scans. The fronts are great, but the blank backs show glue stains. Better than being glued down I think. I can do away with the waviness from being wet also. I consider it restoration not doctoring.

It only worked on the double side ones. The ones pasted on the haberdashery ads would not give. I messed up a couple trying. Waterproof glue I guess.

Deadballfreak, thank you so much for that input. While I think I am likely too frightened & inexperienced to try this water soak method, I'm curious:
--with the soaking, you would cut the page out of an album, then totally submerge the whole page for several minutes--or do you try to let the page float face-up on top of the surface?
--with the drying, do they air dry, sun dry--or are they patted/blotted dry--with what, paper towels?

Again, just very curious. Ultimately, though, I may be too chicken to try this. . . .

Anyone have any other experiences/advice with this?

I wouldnt try to soak sanellas as they're really thin and not very valuable...id enjoy them in their natural state!

The Sporting News supplements were already cut out of the album when I got them. Just dropped them one page at a time into warm water and let them soak for maybe 20 minutes. Just kept a close eye for when the glue started to break down. Once they came loose I put them between paper towels and set a couple of heavy books on them. Changed the paper towels about three times in the first hour. After that they were pretty well dry. One last set of paper towels and then piled a lot of weight on them and let dry for a day. Flat as a board!

I bought a T205 Doc Scanlon off ebay at a decent price because it had a chunk of paper stuck on the front. I took a chance that I could soak it off. Piece of cake. Took 5 minutes.

Ignorant question about the T205. They have the gold borders. Is the border affected by soaking?

Not an ignorant question. I ask myself the same questions before I try soaking. I worked in the coal mines 30 years. I'm used to taking risks. I like to just go for it. Those gold borders are delicate, but in this case the extra paper was mostly on the border and 5 minutes didn't hurt it a bit. I wish I had a before pic to post. I have the after.

This one came out pretty good.

Here's the back. Almost all stuck with 9 dabs of glue.

I like this one

As Ken stated saoking works great on paste base glues. The colored resin horse glue from the turn of the Century won't budge but the paste glues dissolve and your pieces are free! We have done many scrapbooks and T cards over the years and have had excellent success.