Most of our staff has been with us for many years. This experience allows multiple people to creatively and collectively work to develop and improve the products we offer, and to help you dream up the perfect solution for your particular needs. We will work with you to meet your requirements, whether they involve special products or variations on existing items. A large number of items we carry now are the direct result of special requests that we recognized as being useful to everyone.
If you have an item you want to safely store and you can not find a suitable option, please measure its greatest dimensions to get the length, width, and depth. If you have a collection of loose items, such as photographs or documents which may need multiple boxes or folders, consider how many may go in each group and then measure the pile. For items which are neither paper nor photographic in nature, it is helpful to know what they are made from (silk? wood? metal?) so we can help you select the appropriate boards and papers. Boxes specifically designed to hold modern ink-jet prints and many of our corrugated, ship-flat boxes were the result of special needs we learned of through our customers. Folders specifically sized to fit every flat storage box we offer were added after numerous requests for “special folders” to fit certain boxes came to our attention. We can cut sheets of paper or board to your specifications as well.
If you are looking for a special chemical or conservation tool or product, let us know. We can often track down various chemicals which may only be sold in bulk and be able to offer them to the community in smaller quantities, or be able to find something which is made overseas and bring it in for you. Adhesives only sold in drums are decanted for sale in pints or quarts. Flugger is imported after being requested by a conservator. Empty metal tubes used to hold adhesives are another example of a product which came to us through customer requests.
While we cannot always anticipate your needs, we are delighted to help you try to meet them. The men and women in manufacturing are always happy to take a break from setting up document cases to make up a triangular box for a flag, or a special enclosure with a window through which the artifact may be viewed. One of our favorite orders ever was for velvet- lined leather boxes which held treaties the US has signed through the years, complete with their wax seals.