Need advice on archiving stuff

[FedoraFan112390]

My uncle recently gave me my grandfather's WWII duffel bag, which housed my grandfather's personal possessions. My grandpa died back in 1975. In the bag all mixed together was a ton of stuff including:

-Multiple photos spanning from WWII to the 1970s.
-A complete map of New York City from 1950 listing streets and the like.
-A book listing every single location along with the associated address and phone number in NYC from 1950
-My grandfather's Hack License from 1950, along with his Hack badge
-A WWII era book, "Why America Fights" by Sherwood Eddy.
-His wallet, which includes a Work ID from 1966, his OTB card, his brother's business card and an obituary of his other brother (who died only months before him, meaning this was his wallet at the time of his death)
-His school album (the book your friends and classmates sign when you graduate Junior High)
-An envelope from the 1940s with regard to Social Security
-His WWII Driver's Permit
-Driver Licenses from 1966, 1969, 1972 and 1975.
-His original DD-214 card
-His hunting license and hunting badge from 1960
-His voter license card from 1963
-His blood donation card
-Multiple Job ID cards
-His Veterans of Foreign Wars Membership Card from 1958
-His American Legion Membership Card from 1958
-His library card granting him permission to use the Library at the Presidio of San Francisco, from around 1942
-A photographic negative of him taken in the hospital. It seems to have been staged as there is a man next to him with a sign saying "123" in the negative. In the photo version, only my grandfather is shown and the lighting is dramatic
-A card listing his membership in the "Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of America" union from 1957.

Amongst other things. The sheer volume of it all is overwhelming and I don't know that an old leather Duffel bag is the best place to house all of it. Much of the stuff is in very good condition and I feel very nervous even touching the stuff because I don't want to damage it. Any tips on how I should archive and store all this stuff so that it lasts another 70 years?

 

[HodgePodge]

Much of the stuff is in very good condition and I feel very nervous even touching the stuff because I don't want to damage it. Any tips on how I should archive and store all this stuff so that it lasts another 70 years?

So long as your hands are clean I don't think that stuff will suffer any great harm from careful/gentle handling.

If you wanted to go all out, companies like this one, sell inert, polyester sleeves for storing photographs and negatives, and media boxes and liner sheet constructed from acid-free, lignin-free paper for housing both the photo media and paper media. I have seen "acid free" cardboard media boxes in places like Chapters Books, and "Organize your Home", but I don't know if it is the same grade of acid neutrality that would be demanded for archival purposes.
Much of my vintage paper media has spent a good 50+ years in nothing better than metal or cardboard boxes, and some of it was nearly 50 years old when it went into the boxes. Some of it is a little worse for wear, but I'd wager it was already that way by the time it got "filed."
My biggest fear is that much of it is going to start to deteriorate due to my current place being very dry(the bulk of it having been previously stored in a somewhat damp basement), but I don't have the means to build a climate controlled collection room to house it all, so I just have to hope that keeping it boxed up will suffice until one day I can store it properly.

 

[Shangas]

The most important thing about photographs and important/special papers/books is to keep them DRY and out of the sunlight. That will prevent most of the major damage. But to really protect them from things like dust, etc, you need some sort of protective sheaths like what Hodgepodge has mentioned.

It's for this reason that old museums are often dark. Because strong light can damage old paper and ink.

 

[DNO]

This site pretty well covers everything you ever wanted to know about conservation:

http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/crc/notes/index-eng.aspx

And these guys would be happy to sell you the stuff:

http://www.carrmclean.ca/categorygroupbrowser.aspx?CategoryID=132

It's a Canadian company but I'm sure there must be a similar firm in New York. Pricey stuff, though.

 

[kookabat]

If you are likely to want to access the information on the documents on a reasonably frequent basis, copy the lot digitally. A dedicated scanner will give best results, but even a normal digital camera will take images of sufficient quality these days (tip: don't use the flash). That way you can read, show, share the documents without having to handle them all the time, which will definitely help in preserving them.
In fact, copy them digitally anyway and store them on a memory stick. It'll mean all is not completely lost should something happen to the originals!
I'm doing some pretty involved research into a WWII bomber crew and I've done this with all the original documents I've used. Makes life a lot easier.

 

[Espee]

"-A book listing every single location along with the associated address and phone number in NYC from 1950"

Is that a rather large book or does it have quite small type?