PREVENTIVE CARE COURSE MATERIAL
Preservation: Identifying Problems and Solutions Facing Paper-Based Collections
(Updated 2/25/00)
A. PROBLEMS (Graphic)
Introduction: Recognizing Problems (quiz)
1. Use
- Libraries
- Archives
- Museums
- Research Institutions
- Others (Private collections)
Teaching with Time Capsules - Specific Solutions
- References
(some libraries, archives and museums preservation departments)
Library of Congress (LC)
National Archives (NARA)
Smithsonian Institution (SI)
Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute (MCI)
National Park Service (NPS)
National Park Service Handbook
Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)
Art History Links
Book Art Links
History Links (Documents; Ancient art)
Organizations
Conservation Online (CoOL)
American Institute for Conservation of Art and Historic Works (AIC)
International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM)
European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA)
European Preservation Map
2. Value
- Informational value
- Evidential value
- Intrinsic value
- Aesthetic value
- Market value
- Research value
- Others (Associational value)
- Specific Solutions
- References
3. Risk (Risk reduction functions)
- Preservation planning
- Conservation treatment
- Collections maintenance
- Research
- Environmental control
- Training
- Duplication (Reformatting)
- Others
- Specific solutions
- References
4. Substrates (Component nature and deterioration; paper making history and properties; scientific analysis, teaching with paper-making)
- Stable hand-made paper (for example, some papers made of stable cotton or linen/flax fibers)
- Unstable machine-made paper (for example, some papers of ground or chemical wood pulp fibers)
- Unstable additives (such as some sizes and bleaches)
- Others
Specialty papers (such transparent and coated) - Specific solutions
- References
Background: paper and other document substrates- Forerunners to paper (illustrations of clay tablets, parchment, papyrus, pith, etc )
- Definition of paper (what is and is not paper)
- Paper Chemistry (periodic table, organic chemistry webcourse, cellulose fundamentals, introduction to structures, example structures, cellulose chemistry, cellulose and starch molecules [graphic], lignin, hemicellulose [graphic], microbial cellulose [graphic], Spanish/English, microbial paper (1) (2), cellulose biosynthesis [graphic], other chemistry links, other pulp and paper links)
- History of paper (general, Dard Hunter, paper historian)
- Asian hand-made paper (invention of paper and illustration; washi)
- Western hand-made paper (spread of papermaking to Europe and
US) - Machine-made paper (history, modern paper machine [graphic], modern paper mills, recycled paper)
- Process of papermaking (general)
- Furnish materials (fibers, mechanical woodpulp, chemical woodpulp, additives, sizes, dyes and pigments)
- Formation procedures (papermaking moulds, watermarks collections (Gravell) [graphic], chiaroscuro watermarks [graphic], grain direction, beating, drying, embossing)
- Specialty papers: modern
5. Media (Component nature and deterioration; scientific analysis)
- Friable graphite
- Cracking Paint
- Fugitive colors
- Soluble inks
- Oily and acidic media
- Others
Prints
Terms
Iron gall ink
Photographs (LC, IFLA) - Specific Solutions
- References (Special media)
6. Formats (Component nature and deterioration)
- Sheets
- Folios
- Bound volumes (LC, scrapbooks and albums)
- Others
- Specific Solutions
- References
7. External Factors of Deterioration
- Light
- Temperature
- Relative humidity
- Pollution
- Pests
- Handling, Storage and Display
Handling
Fasteners
Housing Techniques and Materials
Cleaners
Tapes and Adhesives - Others
- Specific Solutions
- References
Deterioration
Conclusion, credits and references
For more information, please contact Dianne van der Reyden, Senior Paper Conservator, SCMRE.