{"id":1018,"date":"2018-05-16T15:45:39","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T15:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/?p=1018"},"modified":"2024-05-27T08:43:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T08:43:37","slug":"the-good-the-fair-and-the-unusable-conservation-of-session-papers-at-the-crc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/2018\/05\/16\/the-good-the-fair-and-the-unusable-conservation-of-session-papers-at-the-crc\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good, the Fair and the Unusable. Conservation of Session Papers at the CRC."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This week, Projects Conservator Nicole introduces a brand new project she is working on at the CRC&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I am currently working on a 6-month pilot project to conserve three collections of Scottish Session Papers prior to digitisation. The collections are held across three institutions: the Advocate\u2019s Library, the Signet Library and here at the Centre for Research Collections. These collections consist of around 6,500 volumes, comprising of multiple case papers in one volume. The case papers of the Scottish Court of Session are the most significant untapped printed source for the history, society and literature of Scotland from 1710-1850.\u00a0 They cover an extraordinary period in the nation\u2019s history from the immediate aftermath of the Union of 1707 through the Jacobite wars, the Enlightenment, the agricultural and industrial revolutions and the building of Walter Scott\u2019s Edinburgh.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The aim of my project is to determine the most efficient and effective way to conserve the volumes before digitisation. The approach to conservation work for digitisation projects differs to other approaches in conservation in that often large volumes of items need to be stabilised for handling in a relatively short space of time. Efficient workflows that focus on minimal intervention are key to ensure the collections are conserved quickly and are robust enough for digitisation. For this stage of the project, we have taken a selection of 300 volumes from all three institutions in four different condition categories:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good \u2013 minimal surface dirt<\/li>\n<li>Fair \u2013 moderate surface dirt, and\/or detached labels<\/li>\n<li>Poor \u2013 moderate or extensive surface dirt, and\/or detached boards<\/li>\n<li>Unusable \u2013 the text block is split in multiple places. Digitisation cannot take place without causing further damage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A large number of the volumes have detached boards. These boards must be reattached prior to digitisation to prevent further loss of pages during imaging. Trying to find a way to reattach these boards quickly and securely has been an interesting challenge. After carrying out research and experimentation, I came up with a solution that would be efficient and strong enough to reattach the boards and also look aesthetically pleasing.<\/p>\n<p>First, the detached board is split at the head and tail to the same length as the panels on the spine. Archival linen toned with acrylic paint to match the leather on the spine is then inserted into the splits with EVA (an acid-free adhesive) and clamped.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1019\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1019\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1019 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/1-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Interior of a split book board. The cover is completely detached.\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/1-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/1-402x300.jpg 402w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/1.jpg 518w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1019\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Toned archival linen inserted into split board<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Next, 5 &#8211; 10mm of leather is removed from the spine to which the toned linen hinge attached to the board, is adhered too. My originally plan was to lift the leather on the spine, and insert the hinge underneath, but unfortunately this was not possible due to the poor quality leather which crumbled when lifted. After the leather was removed a 2% solution of Klucel G with Industrial Methylated Spirit was applied. This consolidates the leather enabling the linen to adhere strongly to the spine.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1020\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1020\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1020 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/2-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Close up of a leather bound book and a wooden press keeping the spine and cover in place. \" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/2-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/2-402x300.jpg 402w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/2.jpg 670w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1020\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leather removed from spine<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After the board was attached, an inner joint repair using Japanese paper and wheat starch paste was added for extra strength.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1021\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1021\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1021 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/3-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Image of a book lying down on its back, the spine visible, showing the front cover reattached to the spine. \" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/3-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/3-401x300.jpg 401w, https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/files\/2018\/05\/3.jpg 669w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1021\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Board reattached<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I am pleased with the result which is strong, aesthetically pleasing, and time efficient. This is an exciting new project, and I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what new conservation challenges will present themselves throughout my time working on these collections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, Projects Conservator Nicole introduces a brand new project she is working on at the CRC&#8230; I am currently working on a 6-month pilot project to conserve three collections of Scottish Session Papers prior to digitisation. The collections are &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/2018\/05\/16\/the-good-the-fair-and-the-unusable-conservation-of-session-papers-at-the-crc\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[20],"tags":[99,148],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lwn4-gq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1840,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions\/1840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}