{"id":272,"date":"2012-07-13T16:35:52","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T21:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tslacconservation.wordpress.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2018-06-21T15:08:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T20:08:34","slug":"treating-a-civil-war-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/2012\/07\/13\/treating-a-civil-war-map\/","title":{"rendered":"Treating a Civil War Map"},"content":{"rendered":"

In July, I\u2019ve been treating a hand-drawn Civil War map from the Sam Houston Research Center in Liberty, TX.\u00a0 The document was glued to a backing board with historical annotations describing Burr\u2019s Ferry, a site where Texas anticipated that Union forces would attempt to enter from Louisiana.<\/p>\n

The hand-written annotations on the backing board raise several perplexing issues about the map.\u00a0 First, the annotations indicate that a battle took place at Burr\u2019s Ferry in September 1863.\u00a0 However, other historical resources <\/a>indicate that while a Burr\u2019s Ferry invasion was expected, it never actually materialized.\u00a0 Of further interest, the map itself seems not to depict Burr\u2019s Ferry at all; it shows a region about 80 miles to the southeast, near modern day Melville, LA.\u00a0 Though informative in their own way, historical labels and descriptions can sometimes raise more questions than they answer.<\/p>\n

The darkened, brittle map was spot-glued to\u00a0its backing\u00a0board.\u00a0 Over time, it had fractured around the glued regions and large sections had been lost.\u00a0 Subsequent caretakers had responded by applying tape extensively across the front of the map and enclosing the item in Mylar.\u00a0 Accordingly, this treatment offered many opportunities for physical and aesthetic improvement.<\/p>\n

The first priority was to remove the map from its acidic backing board, which was exacerbating discoloration and brittleness.\u00a0 The first step toward this was to remove the tape.\u00a0 Fortunately, the tape was commercial Filmoplast of relatively recent application, and it was able to be removed mechanically.<\/p>\n

\"Tape<\/a>

Removing Filmoplast tape<\/p><\/div>\n

The glue holding the map to the board was water-soluble, and likely animal-based.\u00a0 Local humidification through a vapor membrane was partially successful, but proved too prone to leave board fibers attached to the map.\u00a0 Greater success was achieved with direct application of deionized water in a fine, aerosol mist.\u00a0 Very slow, careful work was necessary to avoid damaging the map and to minimize disturbance to the backing board.<\/p>\n

\"Backing<\/a>

Removing map from backing board.<\/p><\/div>\n

Next, the map was washed and deacidified to reduce brittleness and discoloration, and to add a pH buffer to guard against ongoing deterioration.\u00a0 Because the map was severely fractured, I used a flat, controlled washing method called blotter washing that relies on capillary action to pull degradation components into thick, dampened paper.<\/p>\n

\"Fractured<\/a>

The brittle, fractured map required careful blotter washing to avoid further damage.<\/p><\/div>\n

After drying, the map was lined with an opaque Japanese tissue to hold the pieces together and fill the losses.\u00a0 The tissue was toned with diluted acrylic paint to approximate the color of the map after washing.\u00a0 The variety of shades in the mottled paper necessitated simply aiming for a neutral middle color.\u00a0 I adhered the lining to the map with a reversible, water soluble wheat starch paste, working on a light table to align the many tiny, fractured pieces.<\/p>\n

\"Lining\"<\/a>

Preparing the map for lining on the light table. Losses seen here will be filled with the toned Japanese tissue lining.<\/p><\/div>\n

The archivists and I agree that it\u2019s worth keeping the backing board with its puzzling annotations.\u00a0 Next week, I will surface clean the board and apply a deacidification spray to help control future brittleness and breaking.\u00a0 I will also create a mat to support the map and assist in future exhibition.\u00a0 Now that the map is more secure and stable, perhaps a future researcher can shed additional light on this document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In July, I\u2019ve been treating a hand-drawn Civil War map from the Sam Houston Research Center in Liberty, TX.\u00a0 The document was glued to a backing board with historical annotations describing Burr\u2019s Ferry, a site where Texas anticipated that Union … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10,17,20,61,82],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation-2","tag-archives","tag-civil-war","tag-conservation","tag-paper","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":681,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tsl.texas.gov\/conservation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}