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Treatment of Rare Historic Wall Plaque
Wall Plaque, Certificate of Incorporation and Associated Document (ca. 1900)
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Conservation Treatment
The most obvious artifact of impact that demanded treatment was repair of a crack that split the plaque in two. Evidence of former repairs showed that this damage had developed over years and that the plaque had been cared for by several individuals using different strategies - primarily attempts to tape the break. Given the chemical make up of the paper, the mechanical characteristics of construction, and the stresses the object would typically be subject to, taping the break could only provide a temporary solution. The conservation solution was to split the broken ends of the board, insert strips of strong, flexible, light weight Japanese paper with good aging properties, and adhere these strips in place with wheat starch paste to form an internal repair.
This repair was reinforced, on the back of the plaque, with Japanese paper mends. On the front, the crack was filled with a mixture of paper and cellulose powder pulp and wheat starch paste to compensate for loss along the broken edges and to form another bond between the sections of board.
The final step of treatment was to provide a stabilizing and protective housing to mitigate environmental impact and provide safe access. The housing includes a multi-layered paperboard support to prevent flexing of the brittle board and a window mat to hold the UV resistant acrylic sheeting off the surface of the plaque. When the plaque is not on display it is stored in an acid free corrugated paper container.
A detailed account of this treatment is available in: “The Object in Context: Crossing Conservation Boundaries”, Contributions to the IIC Munich Congress.