Goodness, what a treasure to find!! My partner and I have been very busy with genealogy and quite familiar with such gems. Carl's got several items of that nature that he's taken to a local framer's and had carefully framed under museum glass (can also use archival glass), which protects against UV damage. The framer is experienced in handling delicate antiquities so we trust her completely in that process. All mounting is done using acid-free archival preservation materials. He just had a charcoal sketch of his ggg-grandmother conserved in this manner.
Your rolled up situation presents its own set of problems. Doubtless it has been rolled up for quite some time and will resist unrolling. It's probably quite dry, which is not a good situation. I had an idea on this, so I surfed the web a bit and found this information which confirms my thoughts on how to address this: (from http://www.loricase.com/faq.html) 7. I have an old wedding certificate that has been stored rolled up for many years. It is quite brittle. How can I safely unroll and flatten it? Often when paper objects have been stored rolled for many years, they become quite brittle. In order to safely unroll your certificate, moisture needs to be restored to the document (known as humidification). Placing your document in a humid environment for several hours should make it more flexible, allowing you to carefully unroll and flatten it. Watch out for ink on the document that might bleed (don't humidify it if the ink will run). You may have to experiment with the level of humidity and the amount of time you leave the document exposed; monitor to make sure it does not get saturated. Attempt to carefully unroll the document while it is still humid; do not proceed if it resists or begins to crack or tear. You could then flatten it by placing the document between two pieces of blotting paper, and then place a heavy object on top for a few days. *** If I were doing this, I would try placing the document on a clean dry linen cloth on an immaculately clean baking sheet and place on an oven rack; I would then place a pan of very hot water on the bottom of the oven. The oven compartment will keep the humidity in one place. Do NOT, of course, turn the oven on! You will want to leave the oven door open a bit to allow excess heat to escape -- you want humidity, not heat. Let it sit for maybe an hour and then check to see if the paper is willing to unroll any, and check for possible ink runs, per above. If no ink runs and paper not willing to unroll yet, keep humidifying, and change out with fresh hot water as needed. Also, having some experience with archival materials, I would *very strongly recommend* you handle such documents minimally, and when you do wear white cotton gloves. The cotton will keep the oils in your skin from contacting the paper and causing further deterioration. If there is a historical or preservation society in your area, you could contact them for guidance as well. Larger organisations (such as state historical societies) usually have people on staff experienced in such matters. Good luck! Thurlow Lancaster, Ohio [email protected] wrote: I am asking for advice on "non" lace preservation. I found my great grandparent's original marriage certificate and their family record (a large Victorian sheet which has all the births deaths and marriages inked in) Both are rolled up and FRAGILE. How do I unroll and preserve them from deteriorating further and falling apart?? I thought maybe ironing them between waxed paper?? (works for preserving fall leaves that come off of trees) These are from the late 1800's so very very old. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to keep these. I am the family historian (I do the genealogy research) and any and all original family documents are very precious. Thanks in advance Cearbhael -- To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected].
