{"id":1727,"date":"2020-07-13T08:30:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T08:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2020-07-14T14:39:56","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T14:39:56","slug":"conservation-tales-the-accounts-of-beeby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2020\/07\/13\/conservation-tales-the-accounts-of-beeby\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservation Tales: The Accounts of Beeby"},"content":{"rendered":"

If we look closely, archival documents can tell us so much more than that which is written in their pages.\u00a0 Even the most unassuming volume, such as these accounts of the church wardens and constables of Beeby, can tell us a great deal about how the volume was used, some of the personality of its users, and how materials were sourced.<\/p>\n

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The volume was started in 1646 and was in use for nearly one hundred years.\u00a0 The accounts reveal many aspects of everyday life.\u00a0 In January 1737 the churchwardens paid 2s. to the mole catcher and in April the constable paid 1s 6d for the stocks to be mended.\u00a0 Although a working document, the volume also contains some rather fabulous (and slightly alarming) drawings!<\/p>\n

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The text can tell us about the activities of the churchwardens and constables, and that they were occasionally either bored or had some very naughty\/creative children, but the binding can also speak to us.\u00a0 The hand-made paper has been sewn onto leather thong supports, which have been laced into the vellum binding.\u00a0 As the pages were used up, rather than start a new volume, additional sheets of paper were sewn onto the back of the book, directly onto the vellum cover.\u00a0 Was this to save money?\u00a0 Or because they found it easier to have access to all their accounts in one volume?<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately the volume was also stored at some point in unfavourable conditions. \u00a0The top edge had extensive mould damage, fusing the paper and making it impossible to access without causing further damage and loss.\u00a0 To repair the paper it was necessary to disbind the volume.\u00a0 When conservators do this it is important to record the sewing pattern so that we can re-sew the book in an identical fashion.\u00a0 From the pattern it is possible to see that the original pages of the volume lasted until 1693 \u2013 this section is in blue.\u00a0 After this date the additional sheets were sewn directly onto the vellum cover, but you can see how the addition was sporadic rather than in standardised sections, and that multiple pages have been cut out.\u00a0 Much of the new paper was larger than the cover and extends out of the bottom of the volume, and as the back cover got gradually smaller, there was little protecting these pages from wear and tear.\u00a0 During this period in history paper was predominantly imported from mills on the continent, so does this mean they could not be choosy about the size of the sheets they added to the volume, and weren\u2019t concerned about trimming them?<\/p>\n

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Once the volume was disbound, it required careful cleaning within the fume cupboard to remove the mould hyphae that was present throughout the pages.\u00a0 Whilst some discolouration remains, cleaning did reveal previously hidden text.\u00a0 The paper was repaired using a non-aqueous treatment, applying Japanese tissue with the use of a suction table, which holds the fragile paper in place whilst the repair is underway.\u00a0 Due to the damage that occurred to the original cover, and that it could not provide the repaired text-block with enough protection, the decision was taken to create a new limp vellum binding of a similar construction to the original.<\/p>\n

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The original cover was given minimal repairs to support areas of damage.\u00a0 You can see more clearly here the original laced-in sewing supports and how the back was also used to scribble calculations.<\/p>\n

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An archival document is a fascinating thing, not just because of the information written within but because the materials and method of its construction can suggest much about the people who made and used it and the period of history in which they lived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If we look closely, archival documents can tell us so much more than that which is written in their pages.\u00a0 Even the most unassuming volume, such as these accounts of the church wardens and constables of Beeby, can tell us a great deal about how the volume was used, some of the personality of its… Read more Conservation Tales: The Accounts of Beeby<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1892,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31],"tags":[82,9],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1892"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1734,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions\/1734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}