You Make Friends When Packages Please!
Our acid-free Metal Edge Boxes are made in the USA and offer a great solution for archivally storing collections of all kinds.
This National Metal Edge Box Company ad is from a 1918 diary. Over 100 years later this box is still in style and in high demand. The biggest difference is that now the humble metal edge box is the backbone of archival storage!
Archives and museums around the world use metal edge boxes to store their collections. That’s because they are one of the most affordable and versatile archival storage options. Sturdy, stackable, attractive, and eco-friendly, they will continue to be widely used for another hundred years.
Metal Edge Boxes Made in USA
Archival Methods manufactures metal edge boxes in a variety of sizes, styles, and colors in our Rochester, New York facility. We use high quality, archival materials. These include acid-free and lignin-free, buffered, heavyweight boxboard and metal edge clamps that are treated with an anti-corrosion black polyester coating.
Stylish and functional, metal edges hold the box sides together and add rigidity and stacking strength, an additional element of protection. They are a much better choice than the ubiquitous shoe box, which is decidedly not archival, and a poor choice for long-term storage of photographs, ephemera, documents, and collectibles that you treasure.
Our boxes come in three colors: tan with white interior, gray with white interior, and black with black interior. All colors feature black metal edges. All of our Storage Kits feature Metal Edge Boxes for organizing and safely storing a wide variety of artifacts.
The Metal Edge Boxes come in many dimensions, from 6-½ x 9-½” to 24-¼ x 32-½”, with depths ranging from 1-¼ to 6”. The dimensions listed on our website reflect the interior dimensions of the boxes.
Styles include Drop Front Boxes, Hinged Lid Boxes, Short Top Boxes, Document Boxes, Slide Storage Boxes, and Full Top Boxes.
Drop Front Boxes
Drop Front Boxes come in two depths – 1-½” and 3”. The drop front panel design is an excellent choice for storing items that fit without much extra room in the box, or for flat paper-based items like photos, prints, and documents. This feature allows for easy and safe removal of contents, without risking damage to the edges of your prints.
35mm Slide Storage Boxes are designed to hold about 200 traditional cardboard mounted slides each. They are sold in packages of three with optional add-on trays and dividers. Slide Storage Kits are a popular choice for storing large collections of slides. The Kits come in two sizes – one holds 1200 slides and the other holds 2400.
Document Boxes
Document Boxes, available in letter size and legal size, are a classic design for vertical archival storage. When paired with our Archival File Folders they offer an excellent archival, acid-free storage solution. We offer adjustable archival Document Box Spacers to prop up folders when boxes are not full.
Other Popular Metal Edge Box Styles
Hinged Lid, Short Top, and Full Top boxes all offer reliable, archival storage for your collections. They are great when combined with other archival storage supplies like Sleeves, Bags, Envelopes, and Folders. We are always happy to advise you on your project if you are feeling overwhelmed by all the choices!
The first key step is to find a reputable dealer of archival supplies, and you have! Our products have been independently tested and meet the requirements for archival storage as ascertained by the Photographic Activity Test (PAT). Specifications are listed on every product page.
Photographic Activity Test (P.A.T): – Accelerated aging test using a specialized photo-emulsion in contact with a paper sample at elevated temperature and humidity levels to simulate the natural aging process used to check the archival quality of various papers and plastic products intended for photographic storage.
We stand behind our products’ quality and reliability. “You Make Friends When Packages Please” is a great sentiment and we believe you will be pleased with our line of archival Metal Edge Boxes!
