This summer I am interning at the United States Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC). The main item I am working on is an album from the late 19th century. It was a gift from the Quartermaster of India to the Quartermaster of the US Army and it is filled with albumen photographs. Unfortunately, this album has seen better days. When I was first introduced to this project, the album had been unbound by my supervisor Jordan Ferraro, conservator at USAHEC, in order to be digitized. Yet, prior to that chapter in its life, the original leather spine deteriorated and was replaced with a paper-based covering (I cannot seem to identify the exact type of material, invoking further research), the book block had warped and the leather covering the boards was badly deteriorated with red rot. Additionally, many of the pages are brittle and have cracked to the point of detaching from their hinge binding structures. There are numerous other damages to it, but the afore listed are the most striking and problematic. The goal of this treatment is to conserve the album so that it may safely be accessed and, if time allows, for the album to be reassembled. Currently in the treatment process, I have removed the remaining hinge materials from the pages using a methyl cellulose poultice and spatula. For a 96-page album, this process averaged 45 to 60 minutes per page. During the removal process, I had two main concerns.
1:4 ratio of wheat starch to DI water 700 Watt Microwave: 30 seconds (6x) then 10 seconds (6x) with stirring between each period. Since being at West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, I have become accustomed to PEL’s wheat starch powder and my own hot plate method of creating it. Using the microwave will be an adjustment, but I look forwarding to perfecting a recipe using this method as well.
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AuthorLeah Humenuck Blog Categories
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