Biblical Manuscripts in the Freer Collection

Transcription

Thomas Jefferson is well-known as the author of the Declaration of Independence and for serving as Secretary of State under President George Washington, as Vice President under John Adams and as the third president of the United States, but he also served as the second Governor of Virginia from 1779 to 1781. As governor of the recently formed Commonwealth of Virginia, Jefferson negotiated the terms of the Articles of Confederation, confronted the challenges of governance during the Revolutionary War, addressed the dangers of the Western frontier and relations with the Native Americans, and negotiated the boundaries of Virginia and her neighbors. The Library of Virginia holds the official gubernatorial papers of Thomas Jefferson and these records document his efforts to meet these challenges and manage the affairs of Virginia during this turbulent time. The collection consists of 1,192 manuscript pages, three letter books, and includes correspondence from such notable figures as John Jay, James Madison, Baron Freidrick von Steuben, George Rogers Clark, and the Marquis de Lafayette. The Library of Virginia recently received a Save America's Treasures grant from the National Park Service and the amount of $110,000 for the conservation and digitization of this historically significant collection, ensuring public access to these valuable materials. In an early attempt to preserve this collection in the 1930s, the documents were conserved utilizing a new laminating technique created by William J. Barrow. The documents were run through a laminating machine, which would apply a cellulose acetate plastic film on both sides. Unfortunately, at that time not much was known about the degradation of plastics as their use was relatively new. This plastic in particular-cellulose acetate--breaks down over time and creates acetic acid as a byproduct. This acid, as well as the plasticizers in the past film, are released into the paper, causing both the paper and the film to discolor and become brittle. The film then starts to chemically crosslink with the paper. The more time that goes by, the lamination becomes more and more difficult to remove, while the paper is strapped acidic environment. To remove the lamination, the documents are immersed in a tray of laboratory-grade acetone. This is done inside a fume hood. The wax seals seen on some documents have been previously cut off in order for the paper to be fed through the lamination machine. They were reapplied to the laminated documents with more dissolved plastic, which quickly releases when the items are immersed in the solvent. The seals are removed from the tray during most of the solvent process to prevent the wax from softening. Paper tissue embedded in the lamination is also quickly released and removed. Then the documents are left in the solvent until the plastic film is completely emulsified. They are then removed from the used acetone and put in a fresh bath. The acetone bath must be changed out a few times to get all of the plastic out of the paper. Finally, the documents are pulled out of the baths and kept in the fume hood until all of the acetone has volatilized from the paper. We can now see what the documents will look like without the haze of the degraded plastic, as we compare that to laminated document on the left to the untreated one on the right. The documents are now washed in an aqueous alkaline solution to remove the acid from the paper. Washing in an aqueous solution also helps to remove discolorations from the paper and to rehydrate it after the acetone treatment, which is very drying to the cellulose material. This solution is also changed out a few times to be sure at all the acid and degradation products from the old plastic environment are removed. The documents are then placed between sheets of blotting paper and weighted under boards. The blotting paper gradually draws moisture from the documents while the weights keep them flat and prevent warping and shrinking while they dry. The blotting paper will be changed several times during the drying process. Finally, the dry documents are repaired with japanese tissue and rice starch paste. The tissue made from mulberry fibers which are long and flexible, giving strength while remaining thin and light. The rice starch paste has sufficient strength and long-term stability, but it's still easily removable if need be in the future. Unlike the lamination procedure that was used before, modern conservation practice requires that all treatments easily reversable. Areas of significant loss are in-filled with a heavier tissue that has been carefully shaped to the contours of the loss. Many of the documents were once in folded folio form, but were cut apart to run them through the lamination machine. The separate pages must be rejoined at the folds and this is done using the same techniques. It will take two years for the conservator to complete the treatment process on nearly twenty-five hundred pages of material. As batches are completed, they will be digitally scanned to provide more access of these materials to the public. Then they will be rehoused in acid-free folders and boxes to protect them in their long-term storage. Removing lamination is a tedious and costly procedure on such a large scale. With this project we'll help to preserve the records of one of the most important figures in American history and make it possible for the information held within these documents to be available to everyone.