TREATMENT REPORT
--> TREATMENT PHOTOGRAPHS
--> IRON GALL INK / WASHING EXPERIMENT
Temporary ID: 03-132
Date: 9/3/03
Owner/Custodian: Center for American History
Address: The University of Texas at Austin
Curator/Contact: Brenda Gunn
Telephone: 475-7385
Owner/Custodian Call No.: 2G220
Title/Subject/Description: Ashbell Smith Papers, Letters
Creator: Ashbell Smith
Date of Production: 1836-1839
Place of Production: unknown
Approximate Dimensions (h/w/d): 423 sheets of letters averaging normal paper size (maximum size is 3 x 9 inches)
Conservator: Beth Heller / Holly Robertson
Treatment Objective
To improve the physical and chemical stability as well as to provide ease of access with an emphasis on rehousing the correspondence dated 1836 to 1839 of the Ashbel Smith Collection.
Description
Media
Iron gall ink:
The handwritten letters are written using iron gall ink, in many cases on the recto and verso of the sheets.
Black printing ink:
One to two percent of the letters are typewritten using black printing ink
Seals:
Eighty percent of the letters have broken seals red in color.
Primary Support
The letters are hardwritten and typewritten on smooth and flexible machine made paper, the majority of which was off-white in color. A minority of the letters are composed on colored paper (rose, blue, green, and chartreuse).
Housing
The letters are insufficiently house in poorly sized manila folders in an acidic archival box.
Condition
The correspondence is, overall, in poor condition due to the inherent vice of unstable media and poor quality paper, as well as due to improper storage.
Media
Iron gall ink
The iron gall ink has in many instances bled through the correspondence, weakening the paper. Haloing is evident on many of the letters, and significant fading of the ink has occurred on some of the correspondence. The iron gall ink has burned through a small percentage of the letters, leaving losses and tears that range from pinhole to several centimeters in size.
Black printing ink:
The black printing ink appears to be in good condition with no signs of abrasion of flaking
Seals:
Many of the seals are friable and exhibit staining on the opposite side of the correspondence.
Primary Support
The majority of deterioration of the correspondence is due to the inadequate protection afforded by the incorrectly sized manila folder and the acidic archival manuscript box. Because of this, the damage is evident predominantly to the exposed edges of the correspondence that do not fit in the folder.
The sheets exhibit discoloration (browning and yellow). Under UV light, foxing is evident.
About 5 percent of the letters are quite fragmented, housed in mylar or interleaved for protection and grouping.
Previous repairs to correspondence using adhesive tape on a piece of correspondence (#20) in folder 3. Three photostats of correspondece are located in folder 2.
Treatment Proposal
- Rehouse in acid-free paper folders and acid-free archival boxes
- Test for media solubility (estimated time 15 minutes)
- Flag for mending priorities
- Mend as time permits
Total Estimated Time: 20 hours
Treatments Performed
- Rehouse letters
- Flag for mending priorities, levels 1 and 2
- Test media in water and ethanol
- Select Priority 1 letters for mending:
- Place item on light table and piece together
- Place between wet strength paper and leave in Gore-tex humidity chamber
- Wet out with 100% ethanol, then 50/50% ethanol/water, then 100% water spray
- Wash under cascade of distilled water, between wet strength paper
- Place again on light table to arrange pieces
- Spray out with 50/50 Water/Ethanol, between Hollytex on suction table
- Spray out with 100% Ethanol on suction table
- Line with heat-set tissue, and dry, on suction table
- Air dry on screen
- Trim heat-set tissue
- Dry between blotter and board
5. Select Priority 2 letters for mending
- Mend with heat-set tissue
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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