Adhesives for newspaper

I work at the National Preservation Office at the National Library
of New Zealand and my job includes offering advice to members of the
public about preservation issues.  I have received an enquiry from a
member of the public as follows:

During renovations, a woman has recently uncovered a number of pages
from 1893 newspapers that cover the walls and ceiling of her
laundry/shed.  The newspapers are dark brown in colour.  Some of the
pages are peeling at the edges, and some are torn.  The newspapers
have been applied directly to wooden boards, and some pages have
split due to the expansions/contractions of the wood over time.

She would like to preserve the newspapers in situ.  I have given her
general advice on the effects of temperature, humidity, light and so
on.  What I am not certain about is what advice to give about
sticking the torn/split/peeling newspapers to the boards.  Has
anyone had experience with using glues or pastes to adhere 19th
century newspapers?  I am concerned about the effects of adding
moisture to these already fragile newspapers.

Fiona Moorhead
Outreach Services Coordinator
National Preservation Office
National Library of New Zealand
Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa
PO Box 1467
Wellington, New Zealand
+64 4 474 3066
Fax: +64 4 474 3079


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:23
                Distributed: Saturday, October 18, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-23-018
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