Monday, April 6, 2009

This letter, besides being filthy, had a severe crease across the center. It was a manuscript rather than printed so I couldn’t wash it. I dry cleaned the three pages of the letter and placed it in a humidification chamber to relax the paper. I then put it between slightly misted blotters and under a board with no weights to make sure I didn’t set the crease. The staining remained but I was able to stabilize and flatten the letter. Most of the manuscript is still legible with the exception of one area on the front page that couldn’t be cleaned any further without risk.