Adhesive on fraktur

For a number of years I have worked with some very important
Pennsylvania German Fraktur. One collection of Fraktur from a very
important library collection  was treated in the 1950's or so. They
were lined with Japanese paper, and some had colors run a bit. For
the most part they were in good shape. To say that there was no
reason to line them is an understatement. Of the hundreds I have seen
maybe one or two might have been a candidate for lining. It is my
understanding from someone who was there in the 50's that the person
who did the linings used wheat starch paste. This person said that
they remembered frakturs hanging on a line to dry. I think they
meant a clothes line.

To the point: My concern is to do with the starch paste that was
used. There are no records, no reports, and no way to do any
research about what exactly the person used as a paste..

Problem: One of the lined pieces (all from this collection lined)
had some disfiguring tape and stains at the top and bottom edges. It
was necessary to remove areas of the Japanese lining so that the
tape stain could be reduced on the suction table with appropriate
solvents.

The stain removal was somewhat successful and the piece looks a lot
better, however I noticed that the paste did not react as starch
paste that I have used in the past. It was almost impossible to
remove, which made flattening quite difficult.

The paste was more like a protein type paste or glue if you wish.

Franklin Shores

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:34
                 Distributed: Sunday, December 12, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-34-010
                                  ***