The Conservation of the Herrison Hospital Archive

Last year saw the cataloguing of the Herrison Hospital Archive completed by our Project Archivist, Sophie Smith.  Sophie’s timing was perfect, leaving us just two days before the first lockdown.  However, the conservation of the collection, which still had several weeks to run, was postponed due to the pandemic.  This part of the project has now also been completed, and the following blog looks at some of the challenges faced by our Conservator.

The conservation of the Herrison Hospital Project saw the treatment of 78 individual items that were previously either difficult or impossible to access.  These included maps that had significant damage and pressure-sensitive tape, bindings that were suffering from ‘red rot’ and required leather consolidation, and volumes that had failed and needed rebinding.

A great example is NG/HH/CMR/4/21/17, a medical journal dated 1920-1926.  At some point in its past it had been exposed to water, and mould growth had eaten a sizeable hole through the back board and 20 pages.  These pages had also fused together, the mould interlocking the paper fibres.

Access to this volume was impossible due to the potential loss of further information and the health implications of mould spores.  The first task was to clean the dirt and mould hyphae off the volume in our fume cupboard.  The pages were carefully separated with a microspatula and each was repaired with a thin Japanese paper.  The hole in the board was filled using layers of archival card shaped to fit the contours.  Finally, the board was covered with blue bookcloth to match the original.

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A number of volumes required re-sewing or consolidation of the sewing structure before they could be re-bound, such as NG-HH/CMR/4/1/9, an admission register dated 1882-1948.  The first half of the sewing had come undone, but the three linen tape sewing supports were still intact and securely joined to the boards.  It was possible to sew the loose sections back onto the supports following the original sewing pattern.

The bookcloth was damaged and had left a brittle adhesive on the boards.  This needed to be removed and the boards consolidated before the volume could be rebound in new black bookcloth.

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A number of volumes had sustained insect damage as well as mould damage, such as NG-HH/CMR/3/17/6, a furniture and bedding account book dated 1941-1948.  This volume required reconstruction of lost areas of boards before being re-backed in maroon goat leather.

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Several plans of the Hospital site were also conserved, many of them suffering from surface dirt, tears, areas of loss and pressure-sensitive tape.  This engineering plan, NG-HH/CMR/6/4/3, 1889, required the removal of several different tapes, repair and in-fill to the paper and consolidation of the linen lining.

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Alongside the cataloguing and conservation work, significant repackaging of the collection has taken place.  The plans, once held within flimsy acidic folders, have been transferred to archival portfolios.  Moreover, the fabulous project volunteers have done an incredible job repackaging, providing extra protection and easier access to documents such as these patient admission papers.

The conservation of the Herrison Hospital archive has been an extended affair, but thanks to the generous support of the Wellcome Trust, its most inaccessible documents are now safe to view.  In conjunction with the new catalogue, this important collection is now available for family and academic research.

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