Conservation of a Water Damaged Historical Family Document

Paper Department:

Foxing and Mold Treatment - with Custom Archival Enclosure

Emilie van der Hoorn, Associate Paper Conservator during treatment.

This rare document was brought in by a client who is extremely interested in his family history. The pamphlet, which was passed down to him from his parents, documents the sale of cattle and his Wisconsin family farm in 1966. The document arrived in pretty poor condition with extensive water damage that caused tidelines, staining and active mold growth with several of the pages stuck together.

This twenty page booklet was compiled for the Gerhard Seefeldt dispersal auction sale that took place on March, 31, 1966 at 11:00am by the National Pedigree Company. The document includes images of the cattle and chronicles the lineage, health, breed with in depth statics to assist buyers at the auction. We were particularly fond of the names of the animals such as: Elvis Marie, Princess Ann, Bambi and Butter Boy.

The treatment for the booklet was fairly extensive and started with disassembly of the pages and dry surface cleaning. The pages that were stuck together were detached using a solution of part water and acetone and transferred to dry. The pages were then treated for active mold and washed in a series of filtered water baths to kill any remaining spores. The losses in the pages were supported with using thin Japanese paper and rebound. Finally, to protect and preserve the booklet a custom archival box was constructed for long term storage.