{"id":92,"date":"2017-08-16T13:14:47","date_gmt":"2017-08-16T13:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.dorsetforyou.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/?p=92"},"modified":"2018-05-05T14:55:43","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T14:55:43","slug":"remembering-the-burma-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk\/dorset-history-centre-blog\/2017\/08\/16\/remembering-the-burma-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering the Burma Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Many of us have carefully stowed our treasured photographs and newspaper clippings into albums for safekeeping. Unfortunately some albums, particularly self-adhesive varieties, are actively deteriorating those items we hoped to protect.<\/p>\n

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I had the privilege of working on a collection relating to the Burma Campaign of World War Two\u00a0which included photographs, newspaper clippings and watercolours.\u00a0These items had been carefully housed within a self-adhesive album.\u00a0Unfortunately these albums have inherent issues that are detrimental to archival documents, such as acidic board, an adhesive layer and polyvinyl overlays, which will all chemically interact with items enclosed within.<\/p>\n

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The album prior to conservation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u00a0Freeing the documents <\/strong><\/h2>\n

This degradation was visibly evident on the thinner paper objects where the adhesive has discoloured the paper substrate.\u00a0The chemical deterioration of these items will persist whilst they remain in the album and so they needed to be carefully removed.\u00a0 Doing so required a gentle and steady hand to prevent any damaging occurring during removal.\u00a0A microspatula was eased under the documents and, once removed, a crepe eraser gently took off any residual adhesive.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Repairing where necessary <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Documents that were fragile or torn were repaired with Japanese paper and wheat starch paste adhesive.\u00a0When removed from the album, two items of war propaganda were found to be extremely brittle; the acidity of the low-grade war-time paper exacerbated by the album.\u00a0One piece was under further stress from a thicker paper adhered to the top edge and had sustained a running tear.\u00a0These two documents were washed to extract acidic compounds from the paper substrate, and to aid the removal of the thicker paper, and were provided with an alkaline reserve to help negate further acidic degradation.\u00a0They were then lined with Japanese paper to support the weakened paper.<\/p>\n

A number of photographs had sustained damage before they were placed within the album and these were also repaired.<\/p>\n

\"Repairing
Repairing photographs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n