Repairing the Richardson letters

In our Franklin collection is an album containing about a hundred letters, mainly written by Sir John Franklin (1786-1847) to his good friend and fellow arctic explorer, Sir John Richardson (1787-1865). The letters had been stuck into the album with a shiny, translucent tape, which had also been used to carry out repairs. In order …

a lucky letter repair

Here is a nice repair job I carried out on one of our Franklin letters, written by John Richardson to John Franklin in July 1823. It was a particularly satisfying one, as this letter originally had a missing corner piece, which amazingly our project archivist Neil had managed to find! After it had been matched …

Repairing the Arctic

I've just cleaned and repaired this amazing map of the Arctic; it's from an 1848 printed copy of the instructions Sir John Franklin was given for his expedition.   This is the repaired map:  

Packaging the packaging

When I carry out preservation training sessions, I always emphasize the importance of archival packaging: it protects our (and your) records from over-handling, keeps them out of light, provides a barrier for rodents, insects, mould and water, and stops them getting covered in layers of dust. The 'archival' bit matters, as that means the quality …

Preserving Franklin reminder

There are still a few places left for our Preserving Franklin talk in Matlock next Thursday, where I'll explain the various ways in which the documents have been repaired. You'll also be able to handle some of the repaired letters, as well as some of Lady Jane Franklin's precious mementos.   Book a free place …

Two tales of self-adhesive tape

Next time you meet a paper conservator, just mention the words 'self-adhesive tape' and watch their struggle to retain some self-control.  It is the bane of our profession, the tapes used by very well-meaning people, who were trying to look after or even save important, precious documents and ended up destroying them in the process.  …

Sir John Franklin’s signature

After the disappearance of Sir John Franklin in 1845 his wife, Lady Jane Franklin, was inundated with requests for copies of his signature. She responded by cutting out his signatures from letters he'd sent and posting these to the grateful collectors.  The damage this did is immediately obvious in this example, a letter Sir John …

An unusual incunable

An incunable is a book that was printed before the year 1500, when the printing press was still a new invention.  Most surviving ones are now in specialist libraries or private collections, but we’re fortunate to have one example here at the Record Office: Lives of the Saints volume II, by Plutarch (D5424/1).  It was …

Ingenious book design

Every Thursday afternoon our preservation volunteers diligently clean items from collection D2375, the archive from Calke Abbey. There was a surprise in store while cleaning D2375/A/S/1/1/1 though, a fifteenth century Alstonefield Manor Court book. Re-using an older piece of Medieval parchment as the cover of a paper text block was standard practice - both parchment …

A father’s letter

When you work with archive collections, sometimes you come across something that makes you stop in your tracks - a document that takes your hand and transports you through time to its author, making them so tangible, so real, that the intervening centuries vanish and you'd swear they were standing right next to you.  That …