Adhesives for wallpaper

I have been asked to establish a treatment for a house built in
1840's that has up to 10 layers of wallpaper and newspaper covering
the walls.  The papers are extremely dirty, and in very poor
condition.  Layers are delaminating from each other and from the
wall surface.  The layers of newspaper have stuck together and now
act as one conglomerate.  The newspaper has lost all flexibility and
is lifting off the wall in one piece.

I tested a water based adhesive but it left a substantial tide mark.
The paper finishes are carrying a lot of inground dirt and the
unfinished, hardwood boarding walls don't absorb the moisture away
from the paper quickly enough.  The layers of newspaper are so thick
and so inflexible that the water based adhesive wasn't strong enough
to hold it back on the wall.

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding adhesives to try?  I have
tried very dry wheat starch paste, dry methyl cellulose and dry
flour paste.  All stick well but result in tide marking.

Vicki Warden
Paper Conservator
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:74
                 Distributed: Thursday, March 18, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-74-015
                                  ***