A study of the effects of conservation treatment on the Fanshawe Archive |
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| Abstract: | AbstractValence House Museum (Dagenham, England) has, since 1963, housed not only a large collection of Fanshawe family portraits but also a very rich family archive which comprises estate and private papers from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries of at least two branches of the family. Of national and international interest are the papers of Sir Richard Fanshawe (1608-66) relating to his three embassies to the Iberian peninsula in the 1660s. Three documents from this collection were taken for conservation and treated using both aqueous and non-aqueous methods of deacidification. Prior to treatment, the papers were characterized using the techniques of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA or XPS), thermogravimetry (TGA) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA and DLTMA). Measurements showed that the three papers were similar in composition and were basically cellulosic materials with varying trace levels of Fe and Cu impurities. All three documents contained iron gall ink; the ink of the Dublin letter had an additional feature in the form of small bright specks which were characterized as a form of mica. After conservation treatment the papers were examined using the above techniques in an attempt both to determine and to quantify any changes which had occurred during the treatment process. Scanning electron micrographs showed that pronounced changes had occurred in the surfaces of the treated papers. With XPS it was possible to measure the change in the surface composition of the papers which occurred on treatlp.ent. It was also found that the treatment reduced the thermal stability of the papers in all three cases. |
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