Rubber printing plates

We recently acquired a collection from a local cannery that went out
of business. Among the objects are half a dozen plates that were
used to print up labels. They are black, rubbery, have a fiber inner
core and look very much like pieces of old tires. They also smell
like tires. They are very dirty but it doesn't appear to be ink
residue, just general filth.

Can anyone advise on preserving these?  This collection also has a
lot of metal plates and dies, so the preferred choice would be
keeping them all intact. If that's not feasible, we have samples of
the printed materials and can also generate prints from our own
presses.

Normandy Helmer
Coordinator of Preservation and Digital Services/
Oregon Newspaper Project
UO Library--Special Collections
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1299
541-346-1864
Fax: 541-346-1882


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:63
                  Distributed: Tuesday, March 19, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-63-022
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