Conservation Work
Since summer 2010, we have been sending
documents off for repair to paper conservator Moira Buick. The
majority of the Worcester City archive is in good condition, but
inevitably in a collection of this size and age, there will be some
documents that have fared badly.
Conservation repairs documents and prevents
further damage, but it is not restoration. As a guiding principle,
conservation work mustn't diminish, falsify or obscure either the
original document or the information within it. This means that
techniques and materials used are reversible and sympathetic to the
original document, but there is no attempt to conceal the work or
replace missing pieces.
These images come from the first two batches of material
conserved; as of March 2011 work has commenced on a third batch of
documents.
River Severn Reference
Book
The 'before' picture shows the mould and
moisture damage to a volume relating to the River Severn. The pages
were crumbling and water damage had left some of them stuck
together. The mould damaged cover could not be saved, but the
damaged inner pages were cleaned and strengthened with acid-free
paper before being rebound.
Book of Frankpledge
The actual pages of the Frankpledge book were
in a satisfactory, if dirty, condition, but there was extensive
wear-and-tear to the leather cover and binding on the book of
Frankpledge. It now has its own drop-box protective storage. The
volume had contained smaller folios bound into one volume, but
after cleaning and de-compressing the pages, it was decided to keep
the individual folios separate acid-free folders. The original
cover and bindings have been retained.
Quarter Sessions
Many of the Quarter Sessions records from the
1820s to 1850s are in poor condition, and have been unusable for
decades. The worst damage was caused by the area where they were
stored flooding. The rolls consist of a mixture of paper and
parchment, with an outer layer of parchment wrapped around and tied
with string to keep it together. When exposed to water, the
parchment pages stuck together, then warped and hardened as they
dried. The bundles shown in the photographs were impossible to
unroll. Conservation work for them is ongoing, but we have
had the first few boxes returned.
The documents were separated, flattened and
cleaned. Just the process of opening the bundles took several days.
The outer layers were most badly affected, with some of the ink
washed off, and some paper pages have crumbled. Documents in the
middle of the roll have fared much better and are usable with
care.
