Blocked paper

I have custody of several dozen volumes of 18th and 19th century
hand written court and county clerk records that had been stored in
damp if not wet conditions over a long period of time when they were
"discovered" twenty years ago.   Naturally, they became infested
with insects and mold.  They were dried and fumigated (with what I
don't know).  Although the volumes were stabilized, the pages were
found to be fused together. The crumbling covers were fairly easily
removed and the "blocks" of pages wrapped up, with the hope that
someday a treatment could be found.  The size varies but they are
approximately 11x17 inches and two-three inches thick.  If anyone
has any suggestions how to separate the pages, I'd like to learn of
them.

Gary D. Saretzky
Coordinator, Public History Internship Program, Rutgers University;
Archivist, Monmouth County, New Jersey; Chair, NJ Caucus,
Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:85
                  Distributed: Wednesday, May 5, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-12-85-004
                                  ***