How to preserve old newspapers?

If someone has found old newspapers (used as insulation in their wall), of some historical significance, what is the best way to preserve not only the papers themselves, but the information they contain?

For the purposes of this question, assume the papers are no more than 100 years old, yellowing, but not yet falling apart completely at a touch.

Ashley Nunn

preservation
special-collections

Comments

GeneJ: A change to your question might improve its usefulness. Really, really old paper usually preserves well, while typical modern but still old paper does not. Paper production changed say 1850-1880 from cotton rag to "newsprint" (wood pulp based). The change in the base and production processes is what makes these more modern (but still old) papers deteriorate faster. (a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsprint (b) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_paper
Ashley Nunn: I said that they were 100 years old, which would make them produced after the change to the faster deteriorating newsprint. Is that clear or should I edit the question to make that more explicit?
GeneJ: Actually, it is the qualifier "at least" [100 years old] that seemed problematic. Rag stock can survive for a long time (even centuries), whereas newsprint has an expected lifespan of only 50 years.
Ashley Nunn: That makes sense. Edited for clarity. :)
Ed Summers: I'm kind of curious how you know they are of historical significance.
Ashley Nunn: They relate to major events of the area they were found in, and were taken to a local historical society to see if there was any value in keeping them.

Answer by Jeni

Digitize the pages to preserve the information

Comments

GeneJ: You might improve your answer by recognizing that digitization has its preservation limits, too. It's not uncommon for family historians to transcribe and digitize, and then to preserve on either conservation grade or archival grade paper. See also Wikipedia, "Acid-free paper," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid-free_paper

Answer by Mara

Digitization and posting to the Internet can make the information widely available. Microfilm is a time-honored preservation technique. And if it's just a few pages, photocopying onto acid-free paper is an option--for instance, to add to a file you already have on an institution or incident. But if you are really asking about the paper copy itself, I'd use Wei T'O or Bookkeeper Deacidification Spray.