New site--Paper Through Time

    Paper Through Time:
    Non-Destructive Analysis of 14th through 19th Century Papers
    <URL:http://paper.lib.uiowa.edu>

Research by a University of Iowa led team reveals new information
about why paper made hundreds of years ago often holds up better
over time than more modern paper.

Led by Timothy Barrett, director of papermaking facilities at the UI
Center for the Book, the team analyzed 1,578 historical papers made
between the 14th and the 19th centuries. Barrett and his colleagues
devised methods to determine their chemical composition without
requiring a sample to be destroyed in the process, which had limited
past research. The results of this three-year project show that the
oldest papers were often in the best condition, in part, Barrett
says, due to high levels of gelatin and calcium.

   "This is news to many of us in the fields of papermaking history
    and rare book and art conservation," says Barrett. "The research
    results will impact the manufacture of modern paper intended for
    archival applications, and the care and conservation of
    historical works on paper."

Barrett says one possible explanation for the higher quality of the
paper in the older samples is that papermakers at the time were
attempting to compete with parchment, a tough enduring material
normally made from animal skins. In doing so, they made their papers
thick and white and dipped the finished sheets into a dilute warm
gelatin solution to toughen it.

   "Calcium compounds were used in making parchment, and they were
    also used in making paper," Barrett says. "Turns out they helped
    prevent the paper from becoming acidic, adding a lot to its
    longevity."

Barrett acknowledges that some may wonder why research on paper
longevity is worth doing today, when art or text on paper can be
scanned at high resolution and viewed later on a computer. He notes
that close analysis of the papers themselves can often shed new
light on a particular historical episode or figure. For example,
when letters from a particular writer are found on especially poor
quality paper given the writer's time and place, it may indicate
something significant about the writer's financial situation. When a
book was printed on very high quality paper for its period and
location, it may suggest something new about the publisher's
intended audience and marketing strategy.

   "Both instances provide evidence wholly lacking in digital scans
    of the same pieces of paper," Barrett says. "Paper does more
    than support words or images. It can bring alive its own moment
    in history or show us how to make longer lasting paper in the
    future."

Even in a digital age, some materials will still be created and
preserved on paper. For instance, Barrett and his UI papermaking
team worked with National Archives staff in 2000 to produce special
handmade paper that now sits beneath the Charters of Freedom at the
Archives Rotunda in Washington D.C.

   "The information lying dormant in paper in important books and
    works of art needs to be preserved for researchers in future
    generations to uncover and utilize," Barrett says. "Just as
    important, paper originals--that can be read without hardware
    and software--will continue to be essential backups to digital
    scans long, long into the future."

Barrett's group included Mark Ormsby, physicist at the National
Archives and Records Administration Research and Testing division;
Joseph Lang, UI professor of statistics and actuarial science;
Robert Shannon at Bruker Elemental; Irene Bruckle, professor at the
State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, Germany; Michael
Schilling and Joy Mazurek from the Getty Conservation Institute;
Jennifer Wade at the National Science Foundation; and Jessica White,
a UI graduate student who is now proprietor of the Heroes and
Criminals Press.

The Institute for Museum and Library Services, The University of
Iowa, and the Kress Foundation provided funding for the research.
The UI Libraries is hosting the newly launched website

    <URL:http://paper.lib.uiowa.edu>

which details all the project goals, procedures and results. The UI
Center for the Book is a part of the Graduate College.

Contact:

    Timothy Barrett
    UI Center for the Book
    319-621-2493
    timothy-barrett<-at->uiowa<.>edu

    Kristi Bontrager
    UI Libraries
    319-335-5960
    kristi-r-bontrager<-at->uiowa<.>edu

    Mary Kenyon
    University News Services
    319-381-0011
    mary-kenyon<-at->uiowa<.>edu


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:34
                 Distributed: Sunday, January 22, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-25-34-007
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