Removing paper materials from albums

Can you provide a basic primer for "harvesting" paper ephemera from
albums, etc.  I have had very good luck removing turn of the century
trade cards, and opera and theater programs, for example, from
scrapbooks by soaking them overnight in Pyrex casserole dishes and
enameled photo developing trays.  I always test a section of paper
and any inks with a Q-tip before immersing in water.  To dry
multi-paged documents, I interleave them with wax paper.  I have
never dared to press them with a warm iron, as some dealers have
suggested I do.  I just leave dry items in my unabridged Webster's
for a week or so.  Am I on the right track?

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:56
                Distributed: Tuesday, December 10, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-56-017
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