5 SUMMARY

The conservation techniques described here were adapted for use on the type of wallpaper found in the study of Longfellow House: a heavily soiled, brittle paper without a design motif, painted one color, adhered to a surface that was very uneven in some places. For other types of wallpaper some of these techniques would not necessarily be advisable, such as surface cleaning with erasers, or filling losses with a putty prior to inpainting. Similarly, there are other techniques which were not used on this project which a different type of wallpaper or plaster surface may have permitted or warranted, such as lifting a flexible paper to attend to insecure plaster underneath, or removing the paper from the wall to treat it in a workshop.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I was grateful for the preliminary condition reports prepared by Anne Clapp, for the guidance of Mary Todd Glaser, for the assistance of Irvin Weaver and for the hospitable cooperation of the curator, Kathleen Catalano, and the staff of Longfellow House.