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MASTER'S THESE ' M-670 MARWICK, Claires. AN HBTORICAL STUDY OF PAPER DOCUMENT RESTORATION METHODS, The American University, M. A., 1964 Library Science University Microfilms Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF PAPER DOCUMENT RESTORATION METHODS by Claire S. Warwick A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Government and Public Administration in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Signatures : Date: May 1964 AMERICAN JNivtRSlT' The American University LIBRARY Washington, D. C. SEP I S 1964 WASHINGTON. D. C Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE How to extend indefinitely the usefulness of records and preserve them for future generations is a problem of par ticular concern to the archivist of modern times whose materi als are of a far more perishable nature than those known to the scribes of the clay-tablet period. Assuming significance with the advent of paper, and growing acute with the increas ing displacement of rags in papermaking, the problem became urgent with the arrival of woodpulp in response to popular demand for less expensive and more readily available writing and printing media. ’.Yhen we consider, in addition, the other factors to which paper is subjected, such as physical deteri oration by" light, heat, and moisture; impairment by the acid elements associated with mechanical papermaking; corrosion by acid inks; as well as attack by fungi, bacteria, insects, and rodents, it is remarkable that so many records have sur vived at all. That they have survived is attributable largely to three major methods of paper document restoration. This study was undertaken for the purpose of tracing their histor ical development. Preliminary to an investigation of restorative prac tices, some review of the background of paper itself is Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 11 desirable. The first of three introductory chapters, there fore, deals with its historical aspects: the origin of paper in the Orient and its spread to and within the Occident. The second chapter is devoted to the technical evolution of papermaking which has contributed substantially to paper's deteri oration. Attention has been focused upon the operation's developmental practices, the raw materials it employed, and t!he changing conditions under which it functioned. Our third chapter considers additional problems, including those asso ciated with environmental factors. After examining the sources of the custodian's diffi culties in preserving his records, an attempt was made to trace his past efforts to render his paper documents suitable for current and future use. The fourth chapter discusses transparent tissue as a means of reinforcement. Regrettably, this subject yielded least to an intensive search for source data, and the problem of filling the lacunae in its historical trail remains unresolved. Although some little known facts came to light, other significant fragments failed to emerge. In the fifth chapter, which is intended to be the most com prehensive, is detailed the history of silking: its origins and its diffusion. The sixth chapter treats briefly with a variety of miscellaneous methods——some traditional, some Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iii transient. Cellulose acetate foil lamination is discussed in the seventh. The eighth reports the findings of a survey of libraries, archival agencies, and historical societies, in North America and in Europe, conducted to determine what methods have been and are now in use and the degree of success or failure experienced. The ninth and final chapter attempts to summarize and evaluate for present and future archival requirements the processes explored herein. Ample and excellent secondary source material was avail able for most aspects of this investigation. But tissue and silk, the areas which initially suggested the study, were poorly documented. Although their technical coverage was adequate, their history proved somewhat elusive. Their back grounds were ultimately derived from rare brochures and ac counts, letterbooks, original records, and personal conversa tions, as well as published reports. Most rewarding was an extensive private correspondence with distinguished and knowl edgeable archivists and restorers in this country and abroad. To the many who demonstrated their expressed willingness to assist by generous and informative replies, I am indeed grate ful. The attitudes encountered reflected significantly the degree of archival concern for the welfare of records. That a number of correspondents have requested copies of, access Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. IV to, or have urged publication of this study further indicates a lively interest in the subject of paper document restora tion, not only for its practical applications but for its historical approach as well. For their assistance and counsel, I am indebted to my thesis committee. Dr. Oliver W. Holmes, Dr. Lowell H. Battery, and Mr. James L. Gear, and to Dr. Ernst Posner. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF PAPER ......... 1 II. TECHNICAL EVOLUTION IN PAPERMAKING ............. 7 Early Pulp and Sheet Processing.............. 8 The Introduction of Woodpulp............ .. 9 Decay of All Kinds of Paper................... 12 The Hazards of Mechanical Pulp Preparation . 15 The Effects of.Additives ..................... 15 III. DETERIORATIVE INFLUENCES UPON PAPER IN ITS FINISHED FORM................................. 22 A c i d ................................... 23 Testing Criteria ........................ 28 Light, Heat, and Moisture..................... 32 Fungi. .......................... 34 I n k s ......................................... 36 IV. THE HISTORY OF TRANSPARENT PAPER IN DOCUMENT RES TORATION 42 Early References............................. 42 Paper in Japanese Trade....................... 44 The unique position of the D u t c h .......... 46 The Netherlands. ....................... 48 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Vi CHAPTER PAGE The United S t a t e s ............................ 49 Italy ................................... 50 E n g l a n d .............. 51 Varieties of Transparent Paper................ 52 The Beginning of Systematic Document Repair . 56 New England .............................. 56 The Library of Congress.................... 58 Dr. Priedenwald's contact with Father Ehrle . 61 . An Evaluation of T i s s u e .............. 64 V. THE HISTORY OF SILKING.......................... 67 Francis V. R. Emery ..... ................ 69 Father Franz Ehrle and Carlo Marre............ S3 William Berwick .............................. 90 VI. MISCELLANEOUS REPAIR METHODS.................... 104 Bleaching, Stain Removal, and Ink Revival . 105 Framing, Resizing, and Splitting.............. 107 Goldbeater's S k i n ............................ 109 Mounting, Patching, and Beveling.............. 110 Coatings. .................................. 112 VII. CELLULOSE ACETATE FOIL LAMINATION.............. 120 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vil CHAPTER PAGE VIII. MANUSCRIPT REPAIR SURVEY....................... 140 Methods U s e d ................................. 141 Dates of Adoption............... 142 Influences .................... ....... 144 Records....................................... 145 Staff or Commercial Treatment................ 145 Condition of Restored Records................ 146 Re-Restoration .......... 148 IX. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......................... 149 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................... 153 APPENDIX............................................... 167 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF PAPER It is difficult to conceive of twentieth-century civi lization without paper. So momentous was its arrival and so significant its impact that, even at the retrospective dis tance of eighteen centuries, it is impossible to assess ade quately its influence. To Ts’ai Lun is generally ascribed the invention in 105 A.D. in China of "true" paper made from the bark of trees— 1 principally mulberry— and fish nets, hemp, and rags. In essence, true paper, quite unlike its laminated predecessor Dard Hunter, Papermaking, the History and Technique of an Ancient Craft (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1943), p. 24; Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien, Written on Bamboo and Silk (Chicago: Uni versity of Chicago Press, 1962), pp. 133, 136-137; and Thomas Francis Carter, The Invention of Printing in China and its Spread Westward (second revised edition by L. Carrington Good rich; New York: Ronald Press Company, 1955), pp. 3-4. All three consider the date arbitrarily chosen, since a period of experimentation must be assumed. Hunter, however, singles it out as the year in which the invention was announced to Em peror Ho Ti as a fait accompli. The year 95 A.D. was given in Joel Munsell's Chronology of the Origin

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