TREATMENT REPORT
-->TREATMENT PHOTOGRAPHS
TEMPORARY ID # 03-137
Date: 9/6/03
Owner/Custodian: Center for American History
Address: Sid Richardson Hall, The University of Texas at Austin
Curator: Brenda Gunn
Telephone: 475-4385
Owner/Custodian Call No.: Texas Broadsides LOB St. 159 1836
Title/Subject/Description: Report of the Committee on Foreign Relations
Creator: unknown
Date of Production: [1836]
Place of Production: unknown
Approximate Dimensions (hxw): : 21.75 x 17.5 inches (55cm x 44.5 cm)
Conservator: Holly Robertson
TREATMENT PROPOSAL
Treatment Objective
To improve the physical and chemical stability as well as to provide ease of access and a new housing for the fragile and brittle broadside.
Description
Media
Black printing ink:
The broadside is letterpress printed black ink on recto only. Overall, the ink was evenly applied. There type impression is not prominent
Iron gall ink:
Handwriting in iron gall ink appears on the verso of the broadside and is visible on the recto.
Graphite:
A cataloguing annotation noting the Streeter number and date is located in the top right corner of the verso, and the date is written at the bottom right.
Primary Support
The broadside is printed on mould made paper that has been lined on the recto and the verso with silk. The paper is off white in color, and the fiber makeup is heterogenous.
Housing
The broadside is housed in a 20 point lig-free folder, accompanied by a notated facsimile which has a loss at the bottom left corner.
Condition
The broadside is in poor condition, split in two, embrittled from the silk lining, and suffering losses and tears at the perimeter and at the sites of iron gall ink.
Media
Black printing ink
The black printing ink is in good condition with no signs of fading, abrasion, or flaking.
Iron gall ink
The dark brown and haloing iron gall ink annotation on the top of the verso on the verso was heavily applied and is visible on the recto. The paper is noticeably weakened at this site and there are losses. The vertical annotation along the center split of the broadside is medium brown and haloed with small pinhole losses.
Graphite
The graphite cataloqing annotations are in good condition.
Primary Support
The broadside is halved down the center, and the resulting split edge is damaged with losses and horizontal tears. Losses and tears at the perimeter indicate that the grain direction is horizontal.
The paper is brittle due to the silk lining and slightly friable as evidenced by the losses at the perimeter. Foxing is present, and the front exhibits small light brown stains at the top center.
Remnants of a stamp may be found on the verso of the broadside which has discolored and is visible on the recto. Rust stains visible on both the recto and the verso are visible.
Photography
TREATMENT PROPOSAL
1. Test for media solubility (15 minutes)
2. Clean as media allows and remove silk lining – dry clean surface with vinyl eraser crumbs; wash and alkalinize if possible. Flatten. (2 hours)
3. Mend and fill areas of loss (30 minutes)
4. House in 20 point lig-free folder
Total Treatment time: 2:45
TREATMENT PROCEDURE
1. Tested media for solvency in water and ethanol (15 minutes)
2. Washed in mildly alkaline bath(added CaOH to a pH of approximately 9). (30 minutes)
3. Mechanically removed silking by positioning broadside on mylar on the light table. (30 minutes)
4 . Washed in sequential baths to remove paste residue. Brushed gently while in bath to facilitate removal. (30 minutes)
5. Dried between blotters and boards for 72 hours.
6. Mended with Tengujo Japanese paper and wheat starch paste; backed iron gall ink burn sites with heat set tissue. (30 minutes)
7. Rehoused in acid-free folder
Total treatment time: 2:15
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Albro, Sylvia Rodgers, and Thomas C. Albro. "The Examination and Conservation Treatment of the Library of Congress Harkness 1531 Huejotzingo Codex." JAIC 29.2 (1990): 97-11
Doyle, Beth. "Silking: Its History and Other Interesting Tidbits." Research Paper for Paper Lab II, May 14, 1998.
Ellis, Margaret Holben Ellis. "The Shifting Function of Artists' Fixatives." JAIC 1996, Volume 35, Number 3, Article 5 (pp. 239 to 254)
Krueger, Holly H. and Sylvia R. Albro. "The Jamestown Records of the Virginia Company of London: A Conservator's Perspective." Library of Congress, Winter 2000. Available online at <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/mtjhtml/mtjessay2.html#TOP>
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