PSA: I found out most 'acid free' archival boxes aren't actually acid free

I was about to store some old family photos in these boxes I bought and happened to check the pH with a tester from work - they were reading at 6.2, which means they'll slowly eat through paper over time. Has anyone else tested their so-called archival supplies and gotten a shock?

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blakem822mo ago

Tested a couple of "museum grade" storage boxes from Amazon with a pH pen a while back and they were sitting around 6.5. Pretty much just overpriced cardboard at that point.

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evan_harris142mo ago

Yeah I was one of those people who thought anything labeled "archival" was basically good to go lol. Actually talked to @blakem82 about this a while back and they warned me the same thing. Now I test everything I buy with a pH pen too and it's wild how much random cardboard gets marked up as museum grade. Kinda makes you wonder how many family photos are sitting in boxes slowly turning yellow right now.

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