2 RESEARCH DESIGN FOR CONTEMPORARY TRACING PAPER PROJECTS

While there is some conservation literature on the analysis and treatment of historic tracing papers (Flieder et al. 1988; Flamm et al. 1990; Mills 1986; Richardin et al. 1990), less information is available on contemporary tracing papers (Hoffenk de Graaf and Wolff 1982; Rundle 1986; Steinkellner 1979). Since 1987, the Conservation Analytical Laboratory (CAL) has been engaged in research characterizing several types of specialty papers, including coated and transparent or tracing papers, for a twofold purpose (Baker et al. 1989; Mosier et al. 1992; van der Reyden et al. 1992a, 1993a). The first purpose is to enable conservators to categorize, nondestructively if possible, the nature of various types of specialty papers, in order to anticipate potential changes to properties from aging and solvent treatment. The second purpose is to enable conservators to formulate better treatments by selecting solvents and application techniques appropriate to specific types of specialty papers. The ongoing work with respect to tracing papers is divided into four interrelated projects designed to characterize the paper samples (1) before aging, (2) after aging, (3) after solvent treatments, and (4) after humidification and flattening (tables 1–4).

TABLE 1 RESEARCH DESIGN FOR CONTEMPORARY TRACING PAPERS PROJECTS

TABLE 2 SUMMARY OF PROJECTS 1 AND 2: CHARACTERIZATION OF SELECTED CONTEMPORARY TRACING PAPERS AND THEIR PROPERTIES BEFORE AND AFTER AGING (NA=NOT ANALYZED)

TABLE 3 SUMMARY OF DATA FOR PROJECT 3: EFFECTS OF SOLVENTS AND APPLICATION TECHNIQUE ON COLOR, OPACITY, AND GLOSS OF SELECTED CONTEMPORARY TRACING PAPERS

TABLE 4 SUMMARY OF DATA FOR PROJECT 4: EFFECTS OF HUMIDIFICATION, FLATTENING, AND AGING ON OPACITY, GLOSS, TOTAL TRANSMISSION, TENSILE STRENGTH, AND DIMENSIONS OF SELECTED CONTEMPORARY TRACING PAPERS